What a beautiful day...

I have to say that today is one of those days that reminds me why I bother to get up in the morning. The air is crisp and cool but the Sun is working hard to make everything glimmer. I had a lovely day yesterday, a slight lie in followed by tea and toast in bed with my book. Then I sprung into action and recovered the dining room chairs, made some blackboards, prepared dinner for us and some others, did some houssework then went out for a lovely afternoon with Monkey and Ray. I got some charity shop bargains, things for me and things for the business. Then when I got home I made another attempt at choux pastry, failed, tried again and it worked! Top the day off with a couple of episodes of My So Called Life and a hot bath... Perfect x

So much rain..... the weather really is dreadful at the moment, it makes everything seem less shiney and fun.
I have been lucky with charity shop finds this week and the projects are getting bigger. I have been asked to become a trustee of a new charity in Sheffield and help develop their charity shop. It sounds like and interesting opportunity and its always good to have another notch on the CV. I bought some beautifully presented sheet music today that I'm going to frame, a pretty pink wade jug, pink glass bowl that I've just discovered is worth between £55-£70, a lovely wade toast rack in wade green (those in the know will understand my colour referencing). I have also invested in some blackboard paint for a little idea I've had for the kitchen. There have been other purchases but I have to do some work now ha ha xx

I'm so tired of being lied to all the time...x

Choux or not to Choux?

I  am nervous about my first attempt at choux pastry this evening.... I am not a baker, I prefer to cook. I don't really follow recipes so this makes baking awkward for me... I have been told that I make a beautiful lavender cake and magnificient ginger cake but these are cakes that I enjoy making. But tonight I am venturing into unchartered pastry territory. I  do enjoy making pastry dishes, especially quiche, and I love french cooking techniques and recipes so I will be following my current favourite cookery books recipe 'The Little Paris Kitchen'. Of course when Minnie the Cat and I run away to Paris we will be trained in french cookery, but for now I will improvise with the books I have at my disposal x

Sleepy

What a weekend... First shift at the pub on Friday night, I was really nervous but I'm working with good friends and it really is like riding a bike, you don't forget. Then I was at work on Saturday, at a spa party Saturday evening, car boot Sunday followed by afternoon tea/baby shower, back at pub Sunday evening, all over the place yesterday then pub last nigh, work again this morning..... I am worn out! Got some amazing bargains from the car boot, some lovely kitchenalia which apparently I have to sell but actually I want to keep it! Also got lots of vintage porn, again I am meant to sell it but I want to keep it. Only one more week at the shop and then I am free xx

I shouldn't have posted that earlier, I just don't understand why people behave in a certain way sometimes. I am constantly finding myself disheartened by the actions of others but I should collect my thoughts, keep my own counsel and maintain my cool. You earn people's respect, you cannot demand.

I just have no idea why I even bother anymore... I am so tired of all this!

and there's more....

* Old battered suitcases, especially if they are covered in stickers
* Art Deco
* Having my fringe cut... but not the rest of my hair
* Biting
* Earl Grey
* Foxes
* Stealing traffic cones and signs (childish, I know)
* Window displays
* Calzone
* Florence
* I cannot emphasise this enough.... Minnie Le Chat
* Those tights that look like they are actually stockings
* Rain at night, especially if the bedroom window is open
* Deliveries

Continued...

This is an extension of the things I like list...

* Seeing street lights turn on and off... especially off in the morning
* Waking up just before my alarm
* Planning running away with my cat
* Taking my photo to make sure I look ok
* Making lists
* Reading cook books
* Preparing dinner the night before so I know it's all sorted before I get home from work
* Cleaning bathrooms
* Reading magazines in shops/newsagents
* It being quiet... and then putting my music on loud
* Bed and Sleep
*A surprise text.... a nice one that is
* Unexpected compliments
* Again and again I mention this but here we go again... brushing my teeth
* Proper writing sets
* Long journeys on my own (ha ha or with my cat)
* Not having to pretend to people
* Tea Dresses
* Staple guns/stanley knives/glue/string
* Phonecalls
* Biographies
* Autumn
* My So Called Life (the tv series)
* Looking forward to things
* Taking care of people
* Leaves
* Saturday and Sunday Papers
* The Car Boot and Flea Market
* My hunter wellies
* Filling in forms
* Tax rebates

... more to come x

A Museum... about Lipstick!!!

http://www.visitberlin.de/en/spot/lippenstift-museum-lipstick-museum-rene-koch

Possibly the best museum ever! x

For Minnie

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Foreigntravel/BeforeYouTravel/DG_4000019

Less than two weeks to go... On my first day of freedom I am going to stay in bed all day reading. At the moment I'm reading Killing Yourself to Live by Chuck Klosterman. Its basically a journey of landmarks, specifically landmarks of where famous musicians died... I've only just started the books and he has covered Nancy Spungen and the Chelsea Hotel so far. I like his style of writing but I haven't read anything I didn't already know yet so it isn't as enlightening as a couple of books I've read on the subject. I will let you know whether its worth reading when I get half way though.

I have a crazily hectic week this week and appear to be working everyday... I have riverted back to my bar maid roots and have a couple of shifts a week at The Tramway Tavern to keep some constant money coming in from my side but I'm hoping the business will keep me afloat financially. The wedding of the year is looming and the preparations for that keep me occupied but my mind does constantly wander to dreams and ambitions, I am not as grounded as I had become but looking forward to the future in a way I hadn't anticipated a month or so ago. Unfortunately Minnie and the kittens appear to think my office/workspace is their bedroom so when I even venture in I am sidetracked by their cuteness, damn them! But in two weeks time they will need to disband and find another space to occupy in the house because I will not be distracted x

Paris

I don't care what anyone says, Minnie and I are running away to Paris! x

Yippppppeeeeeeeeeeeeee x

BEST NEWS EVER! x

Rant....

Badly dressed people should not be permitted to use public transport! Fact!  At least 5 days a weeks I am forced to endure a sea of fake Barbour coats teamed with an ocean of fake designer bags! People wearing cheap, nasty synthetic fabrics in even cheaper shades of the colour spectrum. Badly fitting, unflattering and uncoordinated 'outfits'. They may think they have thrown something on and it looks ok enough for wherever their day may be taking them but.... it is unacceptable! Do you know something bus people... get up earlier, brush your hair, maybe get a bra that actually fits you better still by some underwear that doesn't slice you bum in half, then maybe that uncomfortable grimace you have on your face will vanish. Also are you young girls descendents of the oompa lumpa's? No, well then maybe take the fake tan down a shade or two. Every day I keep all this inside when actually I feel like screaming at them all! But amoung all this is one shining beacon of hope for the day. Handsome Suit Man! The second part of my bus journey allows me the guilty pleasure of passing by this well dressed and immaculately groomed gentleman. Always in a sharp, well cut suit, excellent footwear, the whole package. He has a lovely neck tattoo and well he is just dreamy. If it wasn't for him I would probably have caused a terrible bus crash by now. I am not claiming to be the don of fashion or the best dressed person, I make fashion mistakes just like everyone else, but I admit them and make a change... Yes sometimes I may dress controversially. I recently got threatened with a disciplinary at work for wearing my black topshop hotpants all the time, possibly too bold a choice for a charity shop but I  will carry on wearing them till they are all worn out (ha ha I have 2 pairs). So morning bus crew when my eyes are closed during our journey it isn't because I catching 40 winks before work... It's because you offend my eyes!

Oddness

I feel like I'm becoming myself again, after a good few of years not being. It is hard to always stay true to yourself but I am finally being the person I like. A bad marriage caused what I thought was irrecoverable damage but it seems that time is the greatest healer. I am not without fault, as others are usually quick to remind me, but giving myself such a hard time for the mistakes I've made in the past is not going to change anything. When you know what you want in life you should always grab it and make the most of it. Too many people surround themselves with regrets and empty wishes, I don't want to be like that, I want to seize opportunities and adventures. Surely making the most out of life is what it is all about. I don't know, it just seems that I am wasting time even writing on here when actually I should be doing something far more interesting (truth be told I am stuck at work with nothing to do so writing on here is actually a better use of time than staring blankly into space). I have plans, exciting plans, I am just getting very impatient.x

Just had a vintage hockey stick donated.... amazing, I'm going to use it as a prop for a little photo project I've set myself for the autumn! x

Just 3 weeks...

Yippee, just 3 weeks to go, to be fair that job hasn't been terrible and I have benefited a lot from it but goodness at times it has been so boring. I like working with people and enjoy the interaction, unfortunately that hasn't always been the case whilst being here. On to pastures new, I've got an interview on Friday then another interview next week, also lined up some work so I know I will be bringing in money every week, the market will be my staple though. Thanks to some friendly advice I am going to be able to do my soap project now and found some good patterns for other bits and pieces yesterday. I've been offered some dressmaking work but I'm a bit nervous I've under quoted pricewise so may need to have another look at it. I can't wait for my birthday sewing machine, I saw it on the back of Making magazine and it was love at first sight, the first thing I have to do is make wedding bunting! Had a superace time on Saturday night... we went to a gig then after realising we were broke and had no food at home we went to a free club and danced our socks off... unfortunately we had to leave because a girl spilt her drink down the back of my disco pants (yes, they were finally worn in their meant for environment) and I had to be dragged off before I punched her! x

Just got chatting with a lovely lady in the shop. She is 83 and she was born and bred in Sheffield but moved to Australia with her husband of 63 years and 7 children 40 years ago. Her husband died of cancer 3 months ago and her children urged her to come back to Sheffield to visit family and friends. Her accent hadn't gone at all and she was so full of life, she chatted about all the places she had visited since being here and how different everything was, She had only been back once since moving, in 1996, and said how much the area had changed since then. She was very positive about Sheffield said she loved the shops, restaurants and people, said the variety that was on offer in this Country is so much more vast than in Australia. She told me that she missed her husband every day but that he would have been thrilled she had had the adventure she's just had. She was in the shop looking for a dress to wear to the casino tonight, she said she was going to stay up all night then go to Cleethorpes tomorrow to spend all her winnings on candy floss and slot machines! She has certainly left me hoping I am full of so much life, love and vigour at 83. She had had to buy 4 new suitcases since being in Sheffield to accomodate all the new clothes she had bought, that certainly would be a predicament I would find myself in at that age x

Soap

I've decided to make my own soaps, I am going to inlist the help of others but for now I have a plan and I've ordered a book on how to do it and a couple of different soap molds. What I really want is a french soap mold or a french soap stamp, I am going to try and see what patterns or wording works then see what I can fashion myself. I have an abundance of  french lavender in my garden and I have lots of plans for it but making french lavender soap sounds superace, messy and fun! The end result is to make them to wrap in vintage fabrics and papers then sell at tea parties and on the market! x

Morning

Well it was a lovely day to be on the market yesterday, made some money but spent it on Zoe, whoops! It was supeace to have a day of fresh air and sunshine, when you are couped up in a stuffy shop most days you forget what the outside world actually looks like. Was a bit uninspiring to walk back into work again today, especially as I have no volunteers in with me, all on my lonesome today. This inevitably means I will spend the day looking at vintage things on the internet ha ha, a good use of my time! x

Moving

The awful thing about moving is not being able to locate things when you are in your new house!
I bought a globe shot glass holder with the original shot glasses in a few months ago on a lovely shopping trip, probably one of the best I've had this year and now I can't find it. I am super sad about it. I am sure that there are probably other things that have gone astray in the move but this was one of my favourite things... boo hoo! Have had a very unproductive day today, unless you count daydreaming as productive. One lovely thing that has happened today is that my bridesmaid dress has speedily arrived. I love it, I am going to wear it to do the housework after the wedding as it is the most glamorous dress I have ever owned, this is really saying something as I have owned about a million dresses! It is not conventionally bridesmaid dressy but the bride approves so why ever not! x

Glamping

I am soooooo desperate to go camping, haven't been camping properly for years! A friend showed me this site ( http://www.theglampervanhirecompany.com) and although the thought of luxury camping is delightful I love the back to basics style more. I like the fact you get covered in dirt, sleep in a tent in close proximity, no outside wordly influences... very very appealing! I'm not advocating this has a constant lifestyle choice, I'm merely suggesting then when life gets too much, taking everything else out of the equation really helps. When you strip your life down and survey what is left you can really see yourself. People surround themselves with objects (I am a terror for this) and sometimes the meaning we attribute to these 'things' becomes more real than ourselves. We let the objects speak for us and take over our personalities. When that happens the worrying thing is that we might not like whats left when the objects are gone. I worry a great deal that I'm not 'good enough' that I don't meet peoples expectations, not pretty enough... the list goes on, but I sometimes spend too much time caring about what other people think of me rather than what I truly think of myself. I know I can't change this inbuilt flaw ovenight but I really want to work on it x

Deep Sleep

Do you ever have that sort of sleep where even when you wake up you still feel like you are sleeping? Unfotunately that is me this morning. I am tying to give up coffee completely but this morning I could really do with a caffeine injection to wake me up. My bike basket arrived last week and Monkey bought the necessary tools to adjust my handle bars and seat so I may try to get that done tonight if the weather is still good when I get home. Ordered the right materials for doing my shelves so I am going to make a start on that Thursday when I get home from doing the market. I haven't done many stalls over the summer because of work but I am ready to throw myself back into it with full force. I'm having a good stock clear out this week so there will be plenty of bargains to be had! The thing that appears to be making me a far more productive person is not having television tuned in. I have realised how much of my life I have wasted watching tv... I have been slack with reading, talking and doing! We have a house rule where we sit round the table for dinner and talk, its lovely, we all get to talk about our days, unfortunately the subject seems to always get diveted to porn, sex toys and other such topics... but it is good that we all have a laugh regardless of what we talk about. Zoe applied for college yesterday which is such a relief, I had no idea what I would do if she didn't as it is sometimes hard to motivate her. But she has done it on her own and I'm really proud of her. Saz phoned me yesterday and said she saw Jack and Zoe in town and they were both job hunting, unfortunately Saz took it upon herself to dissuade them from employment, AWKWARD! I suppose I should go and clean the shop now before another long day of boredom, roll on September 3rd! Peace Out x

I finish work 4 weeks today, have already worked 2 weeks notice, they are taking the piss really but the money will be handy at the end of it all! I can't wait to finish, going to sleep for three days then take myself off to London for a V&A trip to see the ballgown exhibition hopefully, will also try to coax best friend into coming! I can't wait for birthday tattoo times, the tattoo I'm having is a fox, face on within a black cameo style frame with red roses in the foxes background. I love the design and it has quite a bit of meaning to me. Unfortunately Ray and Saz are both abroad (one in Paris one in Rome) during the birthday festivities but I have a few little things planned including cooking a great Greek feast for my lovely friends. x

The Office!

Well we chose what could have been the warmest day of the year to tidy and sort the office/workspace! Paula Jane Victoria Richardson was a superstar and went above and beyond the call of duty. We got most of the clothes hung and sorted and the lovely Ms Richardson motivated us into moving all the furniture into a much better working environment. My muscles are all achey today which is a sure sign of a hard days work. Got some lovely bits and pieces fom the car boot yesterday, a Sadler teapot that is fashioned into a edwardian bandstand, some vintage yellow handle cutlery, a silver tea set, a chair that I'm going to recover the seat of tonight, an ottomon that's now full of linens (thanks again to Paula) and a wedgewood cup and saucer!

Taking the bull by it's horns, so to speak!

I have started my proposal for the MA in Antiques, it is quite nerve wracking because I am eally putting my money where my mouth is career wise but if I'm going to do it then I have to put the leg work in. The application pack for a career and professional development loan is in the post and I have all the course id numbers ready to get it all filled in but I am crap at motivating myself to fill forms in so I am going to get everyone to encourage me to get it filled in. I can identify vintage clothing blindfolded at 50 paces but when it comes to antiques I need more education, at the moment my knowledge is enough to help me grab some bargains but if I want to sell professionally of pofitably then I need that knowledge first hand. The MA in Antiques studies lots of periods but the one I am most excited about is the Art Deco module because so much of the lifestyle of that era is represented in the antiquties and buildings. I am excited about the future now more than ever, I am making sacrifices I've never had the strength to make before. I don't know where my determination has come from but I think a great deal of it is from letting go of the negative influences I have been weighed down with for so long. Here's hoping I can keep the momentum going x

Banana Republic

Good Morning....

Well it has happened, I have finally got the perfect pair of jeans. They were purchased from a charity shop a few months ago, Banana Republic Size 10, straight legged, classic dark denim blue, turned up. I put them on this morning and they fit like a dream, hug the bum and no muffin top. Most women who read my blog will understand the curse of trying to find the perfect pair of jeans, it's just sad that I have had nearly 34 years without them. Today I have teamed them with a blue brushed silk sleeveless shirt, vintage pendleton navajo cardigan and timberland loafers.

Self Realisation

Yesterday I finallt came to terms with the fact that I do not want a corporate like career.... I had the chance to be the deputy manager of the shiney new Debenhams in Chesterfield and I turned it down. I don't want work to rule my life anymore, I had stopped enjoying myself for a while and now I am being myself again and it just always makes me so much more happy than having the money that goes with a corporate job. A great deal of my career has been working for lovely indepedant companies that have inspired me to work for myself so in a huge leap of faith I have decided to properly invest in my talents and passions. I am going for lots of jobs that won't be too time consuming and draining and then the rest of my work life will be creative and all about vintage. I do need some help with some areas that I'm going to test the waters in because I can be a bit clumsy and messy at times but when it comes to the sewing I'm all fine and dandy. So that's the positive part over and done with...

I have a guilty admission, I don't completely hate Cath Kidston. I have, in the past made a big song and dance about it but that was because I was being petty and bitchy. People are allowed to like whatever they like and I am a fool for behaving in a derogatry manner. But no more... I wish the people I have belittled (out of spite not good cause) the best of luck in their ventures and may it bring them the happiness I hope it also brings me.

After yet another one of my apologies I would like to draw my avid readers to this lovely little number....

http://www.cathkidston.co.uk/p-18571-cath-kidston-edwardian-ditsy-tea-dress.aspx?referrer=category

I believe I may need it in a 10 or possible 12, for all those people who may be looking for ideas for my birthday (oh so very soon) xx

Not getting a job because you have too much experience but then being asked to have an interview for a more senior position is weird and unsettling. I had hoped for this job and now I am all of a quandry because I really want to concentrate on my own business and this was the ideal opportunity to do that. I really don't know what to do x

I HATE WAITING.... FACT! x

Sorry...

I was really grumpy yesterday, I love the company of others so I shouldn't have been whingeing about having time on my own.... Bad Lulu!

After Sandra and Ernie came round and did some elflike wok on the living room the house felt like it was stating to come together.... until I walked into my office/workroom and found that it was utter bedlam... Then I found a oe stood next to me and she said 'This room is totally your responsibility' then she ran off giggling before I had the chance to throw a wooden coat hanger at her!

It is literally going to take foever to sort! I have too much, I am a super hoarder! Monks is going to help me decoupage the work table with some old papers and maps I unearthed a few weeks ago and then the next job is to cover my horrid ikea pine book shelves with the dolls house wallpaper I got from the car boot last week. I don't really know what sort of tape I need to cover them so if anyone has any suggestions please comment below. Also I want to make some more lace collars but I can't find a way of stopping them from fraying. I suppose edging it with velvet ribbon might work but there may be a more cost effective way of doing it... again comments welcome. I am also looking for some mother of pearl vintage buttons if anyone knows where I can get them on mass? Thanks everyone, my brain is a bit muddled at the moment x