Wednesday, 28 April 2010

Marathon Weekend

I have been in London this weekend to watch my brother, Mark run the marathon. It feels like I have almost run a marathon myself! We have had a very busy weekend. My mother and I arrived by train on Saturday morning and then checked in to our hotel in Docklands. We had a great view of Canary Wharf and the O2 Arena. The next morning we met up with the rest of the family and stood for nearly two hours at the half way point on the marathon route, waiting for my brother to run past. He made it at pretty much the time he'd estimated but in the meantime we were entertained by all the fun runners and the celebrities and saw Gordon Ramsey and Richard Branson run past us.
The streets were strewn with empty water bottles.
We then set off to another part of the route to try and see my brother again and got the tube to Westminster. It was a really good atmosphere here but there were a lot of very tired runners who needed a lot of encouragement as it was only a mile from the finish.

After about two hours standing in the crowd we eventually saw my brother run past again and he looked okay considering he only had a mile left!


We then walked to the 'meet and greet' at Horse Guards to try and find Mark at the finish.



And here he is with my sister in law, Katherine, proudly showing off his medal!


Of course I couldn't go to London without doing a spot of shopping and first place on my list was my favourite shop, Liberty.



Lots of Liberty print goodies.


We spent the evening in Covent Garden and my nephew Rufus enjoyed watching the buskers in the street.




On the Monday my mother and I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum to see the wardrobe of one my favourite style icons, Princess Grace, on display. I have always loved her style so it was a real thrill to see the collection. There were gorgeous haute couture gowns from the 60's and 70's as well as dresses from her films.

The poster from the exhibition.

The dress she is wearing here, in the film High Society, was also on display and was really beautiful. It also made you realise how slim she was!


I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week. I'm having a blog giveaway next week of some souvenirs I have bought back from London so see you next week!
Susie

Saturday, 17 April 2010

The Quiet Sky

I have looked up into the sky over the last three days and what have I seen...nothing! Thanks to Iceland's volcano, I think it is the first time in my life that I have seen a vapour trail free sky. The beautiful blue skys we have had over the last few days are usually marred by all the aircraft criss crossing the UK. Don't get me wrong, I do feel for all those poor people stranded at airports and those who can't get away on their holiday and those who can't get home, but to look up into a sky that is only populated by birds and insects is a rare treat. It is spookily quiet up there.




More blue from the garden. As blue as they sky, a grape hyacinth.

Forget-me-not.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Susie

Sunday, 11 April 2010

Time for The Garden

This weekend I have made the most of the sunshine and warm weather and been out in the garden. There is quite a bit of tidying up to do and pulling out of poor, dead plants that haven't survived the harsh winter, but the main thing is digging and weeding. I cant believe how quickly the weeds appear. There are dandelions everywhere! Considering how late everything is this year, there is quite a bit of colour in the garden at the moment. Come with me on a little tour of the borders and you will see these lovely hyacinths and......pretty primroses and


bright poppies and...

elegant hellebores and...


dainty lungwort and...


delicate narcissi and...


delicious flowering currant and finally...


gorgeous grape hyacinth.

After all that gardening today it is time now for a sit down in the sunshine and a glass of wine. Cheers!

Susie

Thursday, 8 April 2010

Easter Prizes

I hope you all enjoyed your Easter break. This gorgeous chicken arrived on my doorstep yesterday. I was the very lucky winner of Country Style Living's Easter competition.
I am really pleased with it and can't believe I won. I never win anything!

I also recieved other goodies, mini eggs (my favourite), some sweet pea seeds and some Easter ribbon. Thank you Maria. You can check out her website here. There are some lovely vintagey bits and pieces on the site like these pretty cushions.


I spent Easter with my family and having those two extra days off work was heaven. We spent the weekend hunting for Easter eggs, making Easter decorations, catching up on gardening, planting sweet peas and antirrinums, shopping in the spring sales and of course eating too much chocolate!




My nephew had a lot of fun on the Easter egg hunt.

Rufus with some of his hunt finds!
We spent all day on Sunday at my mother's and had a very nice lunch, complete with chocolate Easter cake.
The sun is shining today and it looks like we are set for a nice weekend so enjoy everyone.
Susie