On Saturdays we Steampunk

 Last Thursday, the weather finally started to buck up. This made me happy since it was an office day. As a Costa regular, I had a free coffee to cash in, so I decided to treat myself to one of their new Vanilla cherry iced whipped lattes. I'm obsessed at the moment, and was devastated the other day when my local Costa had run out of the cherry syrup. I digress.  

After work, I met the chap and we went for dinner. He'd asked me where I fancied eating, and for some reason, around midday I got a real craving for Spaghetti Bolognaise, and I desperately didn't want to go to one of the many chain restaurants that are all over York. In the end we plumped for a local restaurant just over one of York's bridges that we'd never tried before, Enoteca. 

It was perfect, exactly what I'd had in mind and it wasn't long before it started to fill up with locals also in search of a some good midweek Italian food. I got my bolognaise, and some wine too. We'll definitely be making a return visit.  

When the chap walked me back to the train station, I totally bullied him into trying one of those vanilla cherry iced whipped lattes, and despite him really not wanting to admit I was right, he enjoyed it! 

Friday evening, I took Mum and Little Miss out to a local pub for dinner. Me and little Miss tried to teach grandma how to play Crazy 8s while we waited for dinner, which for me was a delicious vegetarian Thai Green curry. Tell me you love food without telling me you love food! 

The previous week I'd seen an ad for a Steampunk weekend at nearby Filey. We'd once stumbled upon this before, but decided this time we'd go intentionally. I didn't need to buy anything special for the occasion since my wardrobe could be classed as eccentric at the best of times. I opted for a black Victorian style skirt that the chap bought me in Whitby a couple of years ago, a black top with a Joules tweed waistcoat that I've been wearing for at least the past 10 years. A beautiful velvet jacket from Monsoon, also a gift from the chap a couple of years back. My Ralph Lauren boots, Irregular Choice cat handbag which was a gift from my Mum a good few birthday's back and I topped it off with my Christies red bowler hat which I've also had for years. 

I had hoped to pick up some steampunk goggles to add to my hat, at the market, but alas there were none. There was, however, an abundance of people in various types of Steampunk attire. Little Miss took charge of taking the photographs and confidently asked the people who's outfits she liked if she could take their photos. 

She did a great job, and everyone was so very friendly towards her, and in general. We finished up our day with fish and chips and set off for home as the sun began to set on the days activities. 

By Sunday I was looking forward to a peaceful and restorative day. The chap came across. My gym (that I rarely visit) has a pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room. He bought a pass in to join me, and we spent a couple of hours swimming, relaxing in the sauna and just generally having a chilled and laid back day. 

Afterwards we went down to the sunny and bustling sea front to get some dinner. Then we did some of the touristy things. Played in the arcades, enjoyed a big cherry flavoured ice cream and finished off listening to some fab live acoustic music in a seafront pub. All in all it was a perfect end to a lovely weekend. 

Wholesome

Friday afternoon I rose from my desk to be hit with some pretty bad pain through my back, hip and whole right leg. Dr. Google suggested sciatica. I’m always cautious about my back after slipping a disk about 10 years ago, and so I took this a sign that I needed a quiet weekend after all of the exciting things I’ve been doing recently

Saturday’s weather was very supportive of doing nothing. It was grim, so aside from venturing out for some toiletries we needed, dropping off a bag of donations at the charity shop and getting some chips for dinner, I wasn’t really tempted to do anything else.

Sunday, I had a very lazy start to my day. I stayed in bed and finished ‘Goodbye to Berlin’. Set in Berlin in the lead up to the rise of fascism, I think there are so many comparisons to be made with current events in the UK. Last week’s election results would most definitely point to this.

This is a fab book, another like 1984 that had me questioning why we didn’t read these at school. These would have been far more useful than Thomas Hardy, if you ask me. Often I donate books to charity after reading them, but this one will be going into a pile of books that I’ll encourage little Miss to read when she’s older, along with 1984 of course. 

Pancake with banana, Greek yogurt and honey

After finishing my book, I made pancakes for breakfast. I always make pancakes on one day of the weekend. They are little Miss’ favourite breakfast.

Then I thought it wise to tackle the garden. Little Miss helped me as we pulled up weeds, replaced fallen down trellis, trimmed back honeysuckle and nipped to B&Q to buy a stash of flowers to fill our pots and her fairy garden with.

Weeds everywhere (before)

Somehow a pumpkin plant has sneaked in, and we’re going to try to grow little Miss a pumpkin to carve in our raised beds. Whilst the end result was so fulfilling, paracetamol was my friend afterwards as I tried to dull the pain I’d reignited with all of the garden activity. 

And looking so much better afterwards 

This evening I will be soaking away my pains in a bath, and getting ready for the week ahead. 

D.I.S.C.O

 I hope you’ve all had a delightful long weekend. I love this time of year, successive Bank Holidays make four day work weeks feel like the norm. As usual I crammed my weekend with activities, and it was great fun.

As is often the case, when you have children you make friends with some of the other Mums. Our little group decided that we wanted to go to a Daytime Disco, which is infinitely easier when you need to arrange childcare etc, and sounded like an absolute blast.

Outfit selfie in the pub mirror (pub looks empty because everyone was soaking up the sun in the beer garden)

The day for that came around on Saturday. A 70s, 80s and 90s disco at the Spa. We met up beforehand in a local bar for some cocktails and food before heading down to dance the day away.

It was so much fun! There were some characters there, like this dude who was fully kitted out in a light up suit. The vibe was great, and honestly we can’t wait to do it again, I think we all felt like we were in our 20s again!

The next day my feet didn’t work. Hours of dancing in high boots, I’m definitely out of practice. The weather was absolutely awful, cold with pea soup fog. The chap came across and chopped up an old chair for me to take to the tip, then we went to the arcade. He seemed to win all of the tickets from the 2p machines. They’re now in little Misses bag of tickets to cash in when she has collected enough of them.

Afterwards we had fish and chips. It was the laid back kind of Sunday I needed after the excitement of the previous day. 

Monday, the sun was out but the mercury was staying stubbornly low! It was also Thelma’s 5th birthday. May 4th, I call her my Star Wars Dog. 

She was thoroughly spoiled with a nice dinner, toys and posh biscuits. What a lucky Pug she is!

We ventured across to Malton as we had tickets to see the Michael Jackson movie. Little Miss loves Michael Jackson, so she was thrilled and I have to say, it was a great production. It reminded me just how good Michael Jackson’s music was. 

Much more wrapped up for a visit to Malton

Just like that we’re into the throes of another week and I’m back at work. I’ve had a very exciting delivery today though. As a long time collector of scarves, a Hermes has been on my wishlist for a long time. We visited the Hermes store in Paris last year, but there is no way I would spend over £500 on a scarf.

After much saving (because even vintage ones are pricey) and much watching many different options on Vinted and eBay, I finally bought one. I had it verified, which means delivery takes longer but gives me peace of mind, and it arrived today. It’s a thing of beauty and I’m so happy with it. What a way to start the week!

Joining with the linkup at Nancy’s Fashion Style

Shipwrecks and Lighthouses

 You may remember a few weeks back, the chap and I made what felt like an expedition to see some shipwrecks just south of Whitby. I shot some film while were there, and in Whitby itself. I’ve had the images back for a while now but life has been hectic at the moment, so I’ve not had a chance to share.

I’m so pleased with the results. I’m definitely going to be continuing my love affair with film photography. I’ll start with one of my favourites, which a number of other people have declared to be their favourite too, Whitby lighthouse.

Of course, no amateur photographer can go near Whitby without capturing the gothic splendour of the Abbey.

Then Saltwick bay, and those fascinating shipwrecks. 

Not only was it a fabulous day out, but I managed to capture some good images too. 

None of these have been filtered, the only editing they’ve had is a small crop here and there, all of the results are from the camera work.

Sci-fi Scarborough and other adventures

 There’s a sci-fi convention that has taken place in Scarborough every year for, I don’t know how many years, but a number of years. Despite being big sci-fi fans, (Mum is a Trekkie and a massive Dr. Who fan while me and little Miss love the excitement of Star Wars) we’ve never been. This year, we decided to check it out and it was amazing.

Little Miss dressed up as Princess Leia, she was the only Princess Leia on the Saturday (we only went on one day), but there were lots of other people dressed as characters from Star Wars and all of them were so friendly to a young fan.

Battling Ghostrider

I didn’t dress up in costume, but I was thrilled to see so many characters that I love! 

While there was a good spread of various sci-fi interests, so much to see and do and buy, authors, artists and makers, I was surprised at how dominant a feature Dr. Who was. This made Mum very happy, although I think the very realistic Davros circulating the convention in his motorised Dalek may have given her flashbacks to her childhood, and being scared of him on TV.

Would I go again? Absolutely! I definitely didn’t expect it to be so good, and of course the blue skies and sunshine helped

On Sunday I visited the chap. A few days earlier his doggy had undergone an operation so I wanted to see him and bring him a toy from little Miss. thankfully he was all ok.

Then, me and the chap went tent shopping! I was ridiculously excited running around Go Outdoors wanting to buy all the things. I used to love camping, and I’m thrilled to be getting back into it just a little. 

Later in the year we are going to one of favourite summer things, an outdoor dance concert. I’ve booked a pitch at the camp site down the road and honestly I may be as excited about the camping as I am about the concert. Of course I drifted towards the bright Barbie pink confection of a tent!

Eventually the chap was the voice of reason, and we bought a far more suitable small tent for us both. It’s lovely though, I genuinely am so excited.

The chap approved of this one

After all that shopping we went for a delicious carvery lunch to finish off our afternoon. It was a busy weekend, I felt like I needed another to get over it, but what a fun and exciting one!