What have you been upto?

What have you been upto? Is normally a question I dread because for one reason or another (namely work, family and lazyness) it never sounds like very much!

 

So this is what I've been upto this week gone.

 

Sweetie Jars - Again! I know, I know i'm going on about them, to say I'm a little obsessed is a massive understatment.

 

 

Painting a boring old pine stool I've had for years. I took ages painstakingly sanding it down so it was silky smooth and then ever so carefully (and ever so messily) repainted it in a Navy gloss which is reeking to high heaven beside me at the moment. I have high hopes for this stool - decopage is running through my mind... watch this space.

 

 

Reading. I will admit that I'm one of these awful people that buys digital books (for my IPad, the feel of a kindle makes me want to vomit) without ever buying the actual book. I have decided to stop doing this, the Ipad is easy, but lazy. So from now on I'm rebuilding my book collection and have started with these

 

A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen - I saw an article about this in the Guardian the other day and it's meant to be a lovely read, it's about a homeless man that finds a cat and the things they encounter together and it's a true story.

 

The Secret Life of Bletchley Park by Sinclair McKay - I have always been fascinated by code breaking during the war, my grandfather worked on the Enigma machine and my great grandmother was a codebreakers assistant. I recently saw a One Show feature on Bletchley Park which was really interesting so I couldn't resist when I saw this on the shelf today.

 

The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year by Sue Townsend - No unfortunately not my autobiography. The Adrian Mole series are without a doubt my favourite books, so in my eyes if it's by Sue Townsend that's good enough for me!

 

Who Could That Be At This Hour? by Lemony Snicket - This is the first in Lemony Snicket's new All The Wrong Questions series. I absolutely adored the Unfortunate Events series when I was a teenager (don't mention the film, I'm still too angry) and I saw a review of this new series in the Guardian yesterday so ordered it on Amazon straightaway. These are childrens books but the writing is so that they're enjoyable for everyone and I just love the humour and sarcasm - his books really ignited my interest in reading again when I was a teenager so it's like coming back to an old friend really.

 

I've also been reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on my Ipad (tut tut - but it was free) Over the years I've watched every film and TV adapation but never read the book so I felt I owed it really, I'm surprised at how short each story is, but that does make them perfect for reading on my lunch break!

 

I managed to make it out the pub last week to celebrate my friend/colleague Jonathan's 22nd Birthday - Happy Birthday Jono. He's the resident tea maker in our team so it was nice that we could all buy him a drink and bring it to him for a change!

 

My family are visiting from Cyprus next week, and me my parents and sister are going up to see my Nan and meet my Auntie Kay, Uncle Ian and Cousin Daniel with his girlfriend Maria. We hadn't seen them for about 4 years before we went to my cousin Emma's wedding in July this year and we all got on so well and had a lovely time I'm really looking forward to seeing them again - especially when there's a Sunday roast involved!

 

As for the rest of the weekend, I'm currently typing this in my bedroom with the smell of paint making me want to be sick! Whilst watching the Qualifying for the Austin F1 Grand Prix. It's so weird having an evening F1 race/quali as they are usually on very early morning or over lunch but I'm really enjoying it! Later on I'm going to dig out some Scandinavian inspired Christmas Cross-Stitch patterns and finish some more cards (there's 18 people on my list and I've only made 6.. eek!) then tomorrow will be lunch with the family, some shopping, finishing my stool and watching the race!

 

I've also been listening non stop to my new favourite band 'to the moon' they're made up of brilliant musicians from around the area where I live and some of them I'm lucky enough to know. They are beautifully soft with lovely lyrics and their videos are amazing, usually done in really stunning locations. This is my favourite song of theirs, Photograph

 

 

 

What have you been upto this past week and have you got anything nice planned for the rest of the weekend?