Holibobs Exploits

No card today, but I've been off work this week on holiday (*yay*), and I thought I'd share the highlights of my week off in a diary-type post!

Please don't be put off by the length of the first day's write up; the other days are MUCH shorter, but you might still want to grab a coffee for this one!

Hopefully I'll give you a few giggles along the way too!   :0)

Saturday:
Let's just say that I started the holiday as I planned to continue ......

Over a leisurely breakfast I managed to order a stitched circle nesting stax from My Favourite Things
(Lisa, I'm blaming you for this after seeing them used so beautifully on your blog!).

I'd also previously purchased a single Inktense watercolour pencil on eBay to try out and, after discovering I liked it, I was pondering whether to get a starter-tin of 24 or invest in the larger 36 or 48 piece set.

So I ordered the full Monty 72 wooden box set!  ;0)

I'm possibly buying too many things lately, because I'm starting to lose track of what I've ordered.  As if to prove that point, hubby had ordered some new gym socks online  (I order pencils, and he orders socks : that seems fair to me!), so he toddled off to our local sorting office today clutching his Royal Mail 'while you were out ...' card to collect his new foot warmers.  He returned with two parcels and a frown on his face; it turned out that his socks were not the only parcel waiting for collection!  I opened up the rather large jiffy bag that he handed to me and found some stamps that I'd ordered the previous weekend which I'd subsequently forgotten about.  So that was a nice surprise!! :0)

It was a gloriously sunny day, so we drove up to Exeter for lunch, strolled along the quayside, where I sneaked into The Range to browse their craft section.  A couple more 'necessities' accidentally fell into my basket there too.

Can you sense the holiday theme growing here! :0)

Because we are on holibobs, lunch at Ruby's American Diner was accompanied by one of these each (no, they weren't both for me!)...

Saturday was a jam-packed day, because in the evening I took part in an organised 10 mile sponsored night-walk called 'The Sleepwalk' with a group of ladies from work (and 2500 other ladies) raising funds for our local hospice. The tide was right up to the sea wall, and it was calm like a mirror in places gently lapping the shore.  All the coloured lights were on along the promenade and pier, beautifully reflected in the water along the whole curve of the bay.  The group of ladies I was walking with were excellent company, so we had a good natter and a giggle as we plodded around the scenic route wearing purple t-shirts featuring Barbara the Sleepwalking Sheep that we'd customised with thick lilac feather boas and glow-in-the-dark wrist bands.  Not surprisingly 12 feather boas shed quite a lot of their feathers along the route, so anyone behind us could ignore the map and way-markers, and instead just follow the feathery purple trail.

Sunday:
After my late night, we had a lazy morning.  We nipped out early afternoon to a regional department store where I browsed the craft section while hubby looked at the books.  I consciously restricted myself to just one new fine-detail paintbrush (ready for the arrival of my new pencils !), so not too bad today.  Well, apart from the full set of new pillows and super-king sized duvet that I also purchased - but that doesn't really count as it's not crafting related, right!  :0)

Sunday lunch was a Cornish pasty from the bakery outside, purchased by a fed-up hubby.

The shopping excursion was enough to wear out the hubster, who then crashed out and snored for an hour when we got home.

Monday:
Not quite such an exciting day today.  I cleaned the oven door and and tried to unblock the bath plughole using a trick involving baking soda and vinegar that I'd seen on You-Tube (note to self - never believe what you watch on You-Tube).  I logged into my work emails to finish a few bits that I couldn't do last Friday, took Arnie to the vets for his regular blood tests and I renewed the car tax online.

Rock. And. Roll !

Oh, and I ordered a Embossalicious Let It Snow embossing folder. (well, it would be a shame to let the side down, even on a 'chores' day!).

Tuesday:
We set off to Bristol for a few days of R&R.  When we did the same city break last year hubby managed to book the train journey and the hotel for different dates, which we only discovered when we arrived at the hotel to be told by reception staff that we were a day late!  (I've not let him live it down since)  Thankfully this time he managed to co-ordinate so the dates actually matched (which is always handy!).

And because I was in full holiday mode by now, I was taking photos on the train.  This was the gorgeous sunny view looking towards the Shaldon bridge at the mouth of the Teign estuary as we left our local station:

To continue my holiday tradition, I managed to squeeze in a quick order from The Stamp Basket before we left.  I chose the Maja Designs Coffee in the Arbour paper pad that I've been drooling over for a while, and a few of the new Wild Rose Studio Christmas images.  Oh my word, they are all adorable, but I restricted myself to just four, and these are the ones that I've chosen ...




I can't wait for them to arrive, especially given my recent lapses in memory.  No doubt I'll have forgotten what I ordered by the time Mr Postie delivers them, and it'll be a lovely surprise all over again!  :0)

Wednesday:
We had a day of mainly window shopping and coffee drinking in Bristol, mooching around the shops at Cribs Causeway.  I had a brief look in WHSmith and bought a huge pad of watercolour paper that was on offer (in anticipation of the most eagerly awaited pencils ever purchased - all I can say is, these pencils had better be as good as I am hoping!)

I was then berated by hubby who took one look at the size of the watercolour pad and reminded me that I would have to carry it back home on the train on Friday. Ok, maybe it wasn't such a bargain.   :0(

Still, it could have been worse, because I had also seen a "3 for 2" offer on my favourite Langton watercolour pad in Hobbycraft.  Luckily I had resisted that one on the basis we have a Hobbycraft near home and I can pop in next week, hopefully before the offer ends!  Hubby rejected that as a positive, since we also have a WHSmiths closer to home too.  I couldn't think of a sensible argument for that one!

Thursday:
In the absence of knowing many craft shops in Bristol, I purchased a 50p remnant of white mesh netting (which I hope to somehow artfully use on a card or two) from a little fabric shop I found in the indoor market.  It just happened to be opposite the sandwich bar where hubby was stood in line waiting for his lunch, so that purchase was his fault really.

I may have possibly also ordered the new First Edtion Gilded Winter papers from The Stamp Basket. (thank heavens for hotel WiFi!).  They look lovely, quite similar to the Silent Night papers that I love so much, but in gold rather than in silver.

Friday:
Today is the day that Lili of the Valley release some new images and gorgeous new papers.  Based on the theme this holiday started with, need I say more?

We got the train back home today from our little city break, and it has rained pretty much since we left Bristol. I admit that I will be glad to sleep in my own bed and snuggle my two fur-babies.  I like to think that they will have missed us, but suspect deep down that they really only miss the constant between-meal snacking that they enjoy when we are at home.  They were probably perfectly happy snuggled on the duvet all day without me nipping into the bedroom every half hour to kiss a fluffy head and tickle a full and furry tum.

Here's a quick pic of my boy ... hmm, I wonder what he's trying to tell me ....

So, that's the first week of my fortnight off over so fast.
I already need to return to work just to pay for this week's crafting extravaganza.
It would have been cheaper to go to Spain for a week.
Or at perhaps camping in some remote location in the middle of Dartmoor where there's no WiFi.
Let's hope next week I show a bit more restraint.

Happy Holidays :0)
Annette
xx