Wednesday 22 February 2012

Charity shop bargains & a nice trip out...

First thing this morning the postman called & delivered my beautiful new Lisa Faulkner recipe book. I was so excited & sat down for an hour straight to have a read - it's such a touching book, full of recipes her mum taught her before she died, that Lisa wants to pass on to her beautiful little girl Billie. Very moving & some fab recipes, including Rice Krispie Chicken! :-) I am SO cooking that soon... Also, she tweeted me again today - saying thanks for buying her book & that she hopes I enjoy it! God I love Twitter! 


So after I'd had a read in a bid to get some gentle exercise, get out of the house, and lift my mood I decided to go for a little wander this afternoon. I generally migrate towards the same place when I want to get out, and that's Castle Road in Bedford. I love it. It's a long road running pretty much from my house into town, and its just like stepping back in time...beautiful terraced houses, loads of little shops, deli's, a bakery, gorgeous cafes, cupcake shops, gift and card shops, a few charity shops, a greengrocers, butchers etc. I could spend hours there every week! 

I had some lunch (yes, by myself, I'm 'cool' like that!) in a lovely cafe called The Mad Hatter's Tea Party, which is just in the middle of a big re-launch, and is fab! The lady who owns it is so nice, and its just so pretty and sweet! I had a lovely cup of my favourite tea (Earl Grey) and a bacon sandwich (I'm SO rock 'n' roll!) It was so nice to just sit and chill & get my thoughts together. Here's a pic of the cafe frontage & menu!



After lunch & a ponder, I wandered down to the charity shops, as I always like to have a rummage, and find some bargains (also find they're great for Vintage stuff), and today was no different, I had some GREAT finds, which cheered me up no end! (Retail therapy EVERY time!)

First of all I found this cute (but not to everyone's taste) cardigan for £3.99! It is seriously something my Nan would have worn, but I love it, dusky pink knit, oversized, with pockets and I think it has a lovely retro/vintage feel :-)


Then I found this lovely black and white polka dot dress from Debenhams for £2.99 - its got a cute bow detailing at the back, and has a flicked out skirt shape to it, was well chuffed, as its a size 14, and got into it (extra bonus - mind you it is stretchy!) 



Believe it or not I also got a third amazing bargain! A brand new pair of Navy Emu boots (similar to Ugg, and similar price tag of usually about £85 + ) for......£19.99 :-) I was SO chuffed! 1) Because I can normally never get shoes in my size (8-9) and 2) because they were such a bargain & in my favourite colour (Navy). 



So, that was fab! :-)

Came home feeling all chuffed with myself for the bargains, and my head definitely felt clearer & brighter for getting some exercise and air. 

I've been wanting to share some of my singing covers on here for a while, but wasn't sure how to post them, then decided I'd make some short montage/slideshows to set the songs to and put them on YouTube - not because I want the whole world to hear, but more so my friends and family can share them with me. 

I've been singing for always, it is my favourite thing in the world to do, and it makes me so happy. I don't get much of a chance these days, and haven't had any training or done anything professional for ages - I just tend to sing for family (at family events) and jam around with my friends and my brother. Anyhow... here's the links to the two songs I uploaded today....



They're a bit 'rough' as they are only recorded on my mac laptop using GarageBand, and in one take, so no fancy editing or layering etc - still, it's fun to do :-) so just ignore the blips for me .... thanks. I would love to know what you all think. I set one song to images by my favourite artist Anita Klein, and the other to photographs of all the things I love, slushy, but apt. 

(Oh, another Twitter-related excitement - I posted the link to the song with the Anita Klein images to my wall on Twitter, and she saw, watched it and tweeted me back saying I had an amazing voice, I was seriously so excited & choked up!)

Talking of music, I watched the BRITS 2012, and smiled all the way through the amazing performances from my two favourite artists Adele and Ed Sheeran - they are both so awesome and throughly deserved all the awards they won! Adele looked absolutely stunning - I would KILL to look like she does, and it was great to hear her singing live again after she's been ill. Her acceptance speeches were also fab (despite being cut short - grr to ITV). I literally have both their albums on repeat, and can't get enough of them. If you haven't heard every track of both albums then you should :-)

So, its been a busy day, I definitely think filling my time with lovely things really helps lift my mood, and is helping me get this blooming Tramadol out of my system quicker. Thank God. 

Bye all 

Lucy

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