Monday 25 August 2014

Birthday Treats !

Yesterday was my birthday which I intended to keep very low-key (don't like a lot of fussy song-and-dance about it at my ripe old age *LOL*), so I just met up with Lindsay after she'd been to the church service at St Chad's in Poulton and we went along to The Elk for coffee with everyone, before heading off to Marsh Mill in Thornton.  We had planned to have lunch there at the Tavern in the Mill, but had been forewarned it might be closed for refurbishments.  This proved to be the case, but we still had a little wander round the shop units there, quite a few new ones since we'd last visited - a gift shop stocking lots of unusual items, sewing/quilting shop with some beautiful fabrics on show and a delicatessen (we were very good though and didn't spend any money - this time)!

So ...... we headed off to try The Red Lion in Bispham, which had been recommended to us as an alternative, and enjoyed a very pleasant roast dinner (a rare treat for me these days, cooking only for one as I do now)!  Both of us felt we couldn't eat another mouthful by the time we left.  Just headed back to Lindsay's after that for a couple of hours, before spending a quiet evening at home in front of the telly (not very exciting I'm afraid but suited me very well yesterday).  I received some lovely gifts from Lindsay - a lovely dark blue and russet patterned "kaftan-y style" top, a "Wreck This Journal" notebook (will have some fun with this, a Kelly Rae bookmark, some "Smash" journal bits and (Lindsay's idea of a joke) a bottle of anti-wrinkle cream (see, I said I'd reached a ripe old age didn't I?) plus a bunch of sweet-smelling sweet-peas from her garden to take home with me.  I also received (and had been hoping I would) this beautiful altered mirror that Lindsay created .......
I'd seen a couple of these (each one is unique) that Lindsay had already made and I rather coveted them, so this beauty is now happily displayed on the wall in my living room.  The other mirrors, along with similarly designed canvasses, have already been snapped up by visitors to Lindsay's Etsy shop, but she's likely to be adding more in the coming days.  If you want to check out what the other mirrors looked like then please visit Lindsay's blog, where you will also find a link to her Etsy shop.

I'm also happy to report that my mission to lose weight continues and I've currently lost around 3 and a quarter stones, which is very pleasing indeed, despite the fact that I have to keep buying new clothes and now I'm finding that some of my rings are becoming rather loose on my fingers.  Fortunately, I also have a few rings that were too tight for me and couldn't wear, so hopefully these will fit me before too long.  And that's about all from me today.  After the glorious sunshine of yesterday, today is a rather gloomy, gray Bank Holiday (lovely and quiet everywhere though) so I'll be stopping at home and catching up on a bit of knitting (my current preferred creative outlet) - I have a little cardigan top and a pair of socks on the go at the moment.