August: a month of two halves

As you might be able to see from the picture, this month was v.much split in two - the first being packed full of social happenings and the second was super chilled.

4 things challenge update:

De-clutter: Apart from a few ebay sales I've not been doing so well on the de-cluttering BUT on the plus side I've totally curbed my spending (at least on clothes anyway)!
Health: I drank waaaay too much booze in August so a bit of a detox is on the cards for september - I'm not cutting it out altogether just reducing the intake. Also, I've got a free trial at the rather sexy brockwell lido gym next week which will hopefully lead to a membership!
Money: Saving is in full swing and I've created a helpful spreadsheet to keep track of all the wedding costs that we've paid and need to pay - who knew that creating spreadsheets could be so satisfying?
Do more new: We took our first day trip ever using national express and journeyed south to bournemouth - such a lovely day - AND we also went for a swim for the first time in brockwell lido (and enjoyed lunch in the lido cafe). Yup, I finally braved the unheated waters of the pretty 1930s pool and, man, I'm glad I did.

September's shaping-up to be just as busy as the beginning of August what with several drinks and dinners planned, not to mention my sister's birthday, a family reunion and a live comedy show - the start of autumn is looking good :)

recently

★ Reading: The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson. It's an interesting and rather wordy read. I've not read anything by a Swede before  but I'm liking it muchly. 

★ Watching: Copious amounts of Star Trek Voyager. Mitch wanted to re-watch the entire series and I catch most episodes too - it's really not that bad and in fact, some of the episodes are pretty good as stand alone story concepts. Also, rather surprisingly, I've completely warmed to Captain Janeway. She is one cool spaceship captain. In between episodes of Voyager we've been getting our Breaking Bad fix (can't believe there's only 5 left!) and tuning into the new series of the Great British Bake Off, naturally.

★ Making: The baby quilt. The top is complete so now all I've got to do is make the backing, sandwich the layers, quilt it and bind the edges all before sunday. It's doable but I might not get much sleep! Also, excitingly, I've been making our 'save the dates' :) We're printing them through moo.com and they should arrive next week!

★ Baking: I've been baking brownies and Mitch made a pie. Normally we just take it in turns to do the cooking but it was fun working in the kitchen side by side, we should do it more often especially since Mitch gave the kitchen the most EPIC clean/clear out and now it looks amazing.

★ Drinking: Twinings green tea with jasmine pearls. I know it sounds poncey but they are the bomb.

★ Looking forward to: Another long weekend. I've got the day off tomorrow so Mitch and I are heading for the coast. There's also the baby's christening on sunday which should be fun.

★ Feeling: A little blue. I worry too much.

pay day!

It's pay day! Huzzah! 

Now, although I'm trying extra hard to cut my spending on frivolous things - I've got a gym membership to purchase after all - there are a few things which I most definitely have my eye on...

1. This fabric from the Liberty Lifestyle collection

2. Out tomorrow, it's the last book in the trilogy of Margaret Atwood's dystopian future. The lady herself was actually in the UK for a talk yesterday at the southbank, pretty gutted I missed it.

3. Underwear. If I only get to buy one thing from this list this month it's got to be some new underwear - comfy everyday ones (like these ones from uniqlo) and some fancy ones too.

4 & 6. I need an autumnal-ish pair of shoes that aren't my converse. This t-bar pair from Topshop are cute as are these loafers from ASOS.

5. Having experimented with dressmaking from a pattern, I'd like to give Colette's Laurel dress a try. I do love a shift dress and this one comes with a free download of some extra embellishments you can add to it.

7. The weather is definitely getting cooler so that must mean I can justifiably start on my next knitting project hopefully using flecked wool...

catch-up

Despite a much quieter week I still feel like I need to find my bearings with august. How is it the 22nd already?! 

We reached a very exciting milestone last friday :D

A trip to Norfolk at the weekend to see my grandparents also involved a stop off at a windmill and the opportunity for Mitch to pose with a rather beautiful car.

Mitch and I popped into the Great British Beer Festival on Friday with the view of staying for a couple of hours. A lot of half pints later and we were being kicked out after enjoying a thoroughly good evening  which not only included beer but also a few games of thumb wars, meeting lots of new people and eating spaghetti carbonara (made by two sicilians) at 1am. Spontaneous evenings - you just can't beat them.

Another beautiful house for a location shoot last week. It had a willow tree in the garden. I do love willow trees.

New books! Birthday book token has finally been used up. I think I spent it wisely.

As a treat to myself, I bought some new pens. Is there anything better than a new set of pens? I very much doubt it.

Tuesday's Tees - 36t5

Something a bit different for your Tuesday's Tee instalment today...

I just came across this guy - Andi Best - who's set himself a challenge called Three Hundred and SixTee Five. The aim? To wear a different t-shirt everyday for a whole year. This is his website where you can check his progress (he started in January so he's over half way) and, should you fancy it, donate an old tee for the cause! He states that although he has a lot of tees, he doesn't have enough to not wear the same one twice in a year. A lot of the donations have come from his family and friends but I was happy to see that a few of my favourite tee based sites have jumped on band wagon and sent him stuff! All 365 of the tees are being donated to a clothing charity at the end of the year. Pretty fun eh?