I (ahem, we) got an allotment.

Today I am the happiest girl in the world.  I have an allotment! 

I've known for a little while that we were going to get it, but I didn't want to say anything to jinx it, and I didn't have a definite date, so I've been keeping hopefully quiet with my fingers firmly crossed for the last couple of months.

AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL! 

Would you like to know the story of how we got our allotment?  (I'm going to assume you've said yes!)

When Joe and I were on holiday in May we decided to bite the bullet and put our name on the council waiting list for the allotments in our town, which are conveniently located right behind our house. I'd wanted one for years, but we've been busy with house stuff and life stuff and I wanted Joe to be on board to help with the heavy jobs!  When we got home I emailed the council to ask to be put on the list, only to be told it was closed.  There are currently 10 people waiting and no one's left the allotment site for years.  Cue big sighs and resigning ourselves to waiting for years and years to get an allotment. 

But then I remembered that there are a few public allotments at our local National Trust property, which is also conveniently located right behind our house.  I was a garden volunteer there, for about 5 years when I finished uni, and my Mum still volunteers in the house now, so I asked her to see if there happened to be a list for the allotments there. 

LUCKILY for me, there was an allotment coming free in the autumn, and the head gardener said we could have it!  It's very sad for the lady who used to have it, she's become to ill to keep it up.  There's still the last of her leeks and beans in, and all the soft fruit is hers, I'm not sure if she'll want to take any of it with her, but Joe's offered to help her dig up anything she wants to take with her.  The lady's paid for the allotment til the end of the year, but is kindly letting us put some stuff in the spaces this year.

I know I am sooo lucky, I know not many people decide to put their name on an allotment list then actually get one 4 months later (albeit on a different site!).  It's more than big enough for us too, to grow potatoes and beans and onions and some pretty flowers.  A little shady, but that's ok.  And there are no weeds!  I quite like the challenge of it being at the National Trust, people pay to visit which is good motivation to keep it tidy and I'm going to research Edwardian allotments so I can make it look right.  

It's super peaceful and beautiful too.  I love these old apple trees (I can't harvest from them because they're used by the Trust, but I can appreciate their gnarled beauty).  I love these gardens where I've spent so many hours gardening.  It was lovely to catch up with the head gardener again.  And the allotment where I started to learn about gardening is still there, just across the path from my own new allotment. 

I am so happy and so lucky and I can't wait to get started! 

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We Did it!

We got the keys to our new house yesterday!

We won't move in for a while, as I still have my little flat for a bit longer and there's lots of decorating to do.  Today Joe pulled up all the old carpets and I spent about 3 hours cleaning the bathroom.  Oh my gosh, it's soooo dirty!  

I'll have more photos soon!

I'm an eCycle Best Green Guardian!

A couple of weeks ago a lovely man from eCycle contacted me with some interview questions, asking to feature me as a Green Guardian on the eCycle Best Blog.

I was glad to be asked, and excited when the article went live a couple of days ago!

You can check it out here, if you're interested. 

There are lot's of other Green Guardians on the eCycle blog, so I'm in good company and I've found lots of new blogs to read too!

5 Year Blogiversary!

I have been blogging for 5 years today!  It doesn't seem that long, but a sixth of my life has been recorded here! 

Here is my first post and here are some of my favourite posts, if you haven't been reading from the start then you might not have seen some of them! 

Darlek biscuits. Fleece bunny. Buying a food deyhdrator. Making a button frame. Making a retro snake draught excluder. Felt Beetle pin cushion.  Harvesting my first courgette. Crocheting a rainbow cushion. Crocheting my first granny square blanket.

Visiting my local library.  Growing a grass head. Photographing my room. Knitting my first, and only, scarf.  Sprouting seeds.  Starting work on the new garden at mums house.  Making a rag rug.  Making recycled notebooks.  Watching blue tits nesting.

My first crochet amigurumi.  Spotting David Tennant.  Starting the Mollie Makes Starburst crochet blanket.  Fredrick, the elephant hawk moth.  Baking amazing vegan courgette cake.  Making a hat for Percival the pig.  Making salt dough buttons.  Having my first stall at a craft fair.  Buying my first home.

Making a balcony garden.  Doing lots of charity shopping.  Recycled tins into plant pots.  Visiting the Bronte's house up north.  Enjoying summer garden days. Visiting the new Library of Birmingham.  Making vegan tapas.  Putting up my little Christmas tree.  Going low 'poo.   

Thank you so much for being my blog friends! It means a lot! 

You can follow me on Bloglovin, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Now and Then.

I saw this on Louisa's blog Duck in a Dress and thought it would be fun!  Especially as I looked at myself in the mirror the other day and thought my 15 year old self would be disgusted at the fact that I owned, and was wearing, a gray cardigan!

The idea is to compare teenage you to you in 2014.  I'm going for mid to late teens, I was 14 in 1999 and 18 in 2002, so roughly around then.  I have even found some amusing/horrific photos to illustrate my teenage years!

Crushing on...

Now - David Tennant, Benedict Cumberbatch, Christopher Eccleston, Noel Fielding, Alan Davies.

Then - Leonardo DiCaprio, Brian Moloko, Billie Joe from Greenday, Pacey from Dawson's Creek, Jamie Oliver, Heath Ledger, Damon Albarn.

Watching...

Now - Neighbours, Doctor Who, Call the Midwife, My Mad Fat Diary, The Big Bang Theory, Girls.

Then - Neighbours, The Tribe, As If, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Dawson's Creek, Hollyoaks, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 10 Things I Hate About You (on DVD, every night!).

Listening to...

Now - Belle and Sebastian, Eddi Reader, Kate Rusby, Paloma Faith, Take That, The Smiths, Pulp, Norah Jones, The Beatles, Cat Stevens, folky, acousticy stuff, a bit of rocky, indie, guitar-y stuff and songs from musicals.

Then - Greenday, Placebo, Slipknot, Blink 182, The Beatles, Linkin Park, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Nirvana, lots of nu-metal and the free compilation CDs that came on the front of Kerrang and Melody Maker.

Reading...

Now - Margaret Atwood, Vampire novels, lots of crochet books and magazines, lot's of new releases from the library.

Then - Anne Rice, Point Horror, Goosebumps, Point Romance, Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High, Judy Blume, The Sleepover Club and J-17 magazine.

Style...

Now - Dresses, cardigans, jeans, t-shirts, florals, retro-looking things.

Then - Wide skater style jeans, pink and purple chords, mini skirts, fishnets, purple Doc Marten boots, velvet, band hoodies and t shirts, interesting retro-things from before Charity shops got rubbish, fairy wings, black lipstick, bindis, glitter, studded collars, loads of bracelets.  I had a pretty long phase of only wearing black, purple, blue and an occasional hint of bright pink.

Hair...

Now - Shoulder length, curly, natural colour with a streak of blonde I dye a bright colour occasionally (it's currently faded green), currently experimenting with loo 'poo.

Then - Shoulder length, hair gelled into a solid state to stop it going frizzy, dyed red, purple, blue, green, pink, orange and bleach blonde (not all at the same time though!), usually in pigtails fastened with loads of glittery hair doodads, bobbles and clips

Leisure...

Now - Watching Doctor Who DVDs with my boy, cinema, seeing live music, eating chips in pubs, going for my tea at my Mum's house, reading, watching TV, volunteering, crocheting and other crafty endeavours.

Then - Drinking neat vodka in the park, sneaking vodka into under-age discos, hanging around in the shopping centre, sleepovers 

Attitude...

Now - Positive, resourceful, procrastinator, realistic, I try to enjoy my life!

Then - Cheerful, funny, passionate, stubborn, teenage angst-y, sarcastic, worried, occasional bouts of teenage-girl-style-meaness.  

Dreams...

Now - Mostly I want to stay happy, spend more time with my niece, boyfriend, family and friends and have time to do my own thing.  If we're thinking more materialistically then I would like to earn more money and move into a house with 2 bedrooms and 2 living rooms and a garden, go on holidays and on day trips.

Then - I wanted to buy a white-van-man style van, insulate it with newspaper (I remember this being an important part of my plan!) and travel around the world in it and get dreadlocks.  I then wanted to settle down and adopt 7 children.

I like myself a lot better now then I did when I was a teenager, even though I do wear grey cardigans now!

I think this is the sort of thing you're supposed to tag people in, but I'll just say have a go if you want and let me know if you do so I can check out your embarrassing teenage years!

2013...

This year I have...

Had adventures...

Read...

(I have read 52 novels again this year! I may have cheated and only read very thin books during December though!  My favourites this year were Maddaddam by Margaret Atwood, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and lots of vampire-y ones by Richelle Mead)

Crafted...

Grown...

Cooked...

This year has been really lovely and I feel so lucky.  I became an Auntie.  I met a lovely, lovely boy.  I saw McFly and Eddi Reader making music I love.  I saw Phantom of the Opera, The Importance of being Earnest and Dracula at the theatre.  I had exciting trips to Powis Castle, Attingham Park, Aberystwyth, the Library of Birmingham, the Bronte sisters house, Lancashire, Yorkshire and lots of other exciting places too.  I hope you have all had a lovely year too.

Thank you all so much for visiting, commenting and being my friends, it means a lot.

I am looking forward to the next year already, I have trips planned to see David Tennant (swoon) in Richard II in January, Wicked in August, tickets paid for to go to Brazil to see my favourite friend and I will be thinking of something special to do for my 30th birthday (eek!).  I hope 2014 will be very good to you!  Happy new year!

Merry Christmas to You!

Celebrating Christmas...

Oh I love Christmas.  I have been watching Christmas films, listening to Christmas music, wearing Christmas socks, painting my toenails red and green and all manner of other Christmassy activities.  But mostly I have been enjoying being at home, surrounded by my cosy, Christmassy things...

These are some of my favourite baubles and tree decorations.  My tree was a bit sparse last year and I only had purple and silver tinsel (see photo below, I had only just moved in this time last year!)...

I'm much happier with my red and green and silver and gold, tinselly, baubley, candy caney tree this year!

Clockwise from top left - a little bald fairy (she's called ally pecia) I sewed years ago, a flying pig and cute little baubles I bought new this year, a retro santa bauble and a robin off my mum, you can just see a bear sitting on a drum in this one that's from my childhood and a pink reindeer which was a present from mum too, this next one is from the German Christmas Market in Birmingham that I went to a few weeks ago, felt snowflake from a lovely blog swap last year, felt reindeer from a cute little shop in Machynlleth on my birthday, this little wooden santa is very special, he came from a party given by my best friend when we were little, I wasn't friends with her really at the time, we went to the same school and lived near each other but didn't really mix, I remember being confused about being invited, even though we still didn't really make friends for a couple of years after that, little wooden santa reminds me of her.  In the centre is my new 99p pink tinsel star! 

I love having a tree full of special ornaments!

I put my tree up on the 24th November, but I was quite restrained with the rest of my Christmas knick-knacks and candles, they only went out last weekend.

I made this pine cone Christmas tree at Rainbows and the glass Christmas octopus is from the German Christmas Market.

I took this photo of my Christmas countdown a while ago!

I even have some sticky window things on my kitchen window to brighten up my view of a wall! 

I hope you are all ready for Father Christmas, and that you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Just couldn't Wait Any Longer....

Anyone else excited yet?

Celebrating Halloween...

I don't usually do Halloween, but this year I have had fun carving a home grown pumpkin....

Crocheting a set of cute friendly ghosts (completely by accident, these all fit inside each other, so they're nesting ghost dolls!)...

Watching Dracula at the theatre, drinking out of my Halloween cup, reading my vampire book and wearing spooky socks!

Happy Halloween everyone! 

Tagged...

Dreamer, from the blog Living a Slow and Simple Life (not so) recently tagged me to answer these questions...

How many siblings do you have and what was your position in the family?

I have a brother who is 18 months younger than me...I was most perturbed by his arrival and used to say 'oh mummy put him back' and 'oh mummy, put him down and play with me!'.  We mostly get on OK now though.

Do you still keep in touch with your best friend from school days?

Yes, my best friends in school are still my best friends now, although one now lives in Brazil and the other in London...I miss them both loads.

Girly shoes or walking boots?

Walking boots.  Sore feet = sad Susie.

What would you choose for a last meal?

I would have a buffet of many varieties of fried carb-y items...mmmm!

If you could go back in time which era would you like to have been born in?

I always wanted to be around in the sixties and seventies, I love the style, ideas and music that were around then.

What is the one possession you would think about running back into a burning building for?

I have a little toy dog called Steven that I've had since I was three, he sleeps with me every night, no doubt about it I'd go back for him.

What is your favourite colour to wear?

I like to be colourful and am usually wearing multiple colours at once, I like wearing blue and a psychic friend of my mum told be blue is a good, protective colour so I like that about it too. 

What is your favourite colour to decorate with?

Pink!  I love pink but I never really feel comfortable wearing it (although I did have pink hair for several years, which I loved) so I make up for it by surrounding myself with pink stuff.

Do you like to grow flowers or vegetables in your garden?

Vegetables, cos then I get to eat them! Om nom nom.  Flowers are nice too, but if I could only choose one it would be veg.

Are you a cat or a dog person?

I'm allergic to both, but I like both, cats scare me a little with their ability to turn on you in a millisecond.

Who would you like to be stuck in a lift with?

David Tennant.  I indirectly touched him once and my knees went all wibbly!  Swoon!

The rules for this tagging-question-y game are these...

1. Post these rules.

2.  Answer the 11 questions from the person who tagged you.

3. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag.

4. Tag 11 people and link them to your post.

5.  Let them know that you tagged them.

So my 11 questions are below...as usual I'm terrible at tagging people in these things, so just join in if you'd like to, and let me know if you do so I can be nosey and look at your answers!

What is your favourite book?  Why do you like it?

What's the best experience you've ever had?

Describe your favourite pair of socks?

What amusing, idiosyncratic phrases do you regularly use?

Where is your favourite place in the world?

If you could only listen to 1 CD for the rest of your life which would it be?

What makes you happy?

What sort of a bargain in the charity shop makes you do a happy dance?

Which is your favourite room in your home?  What is it like?

What's your favourite animal?

Who do you think is the most beautiful person in the whole wide world? (inner or outer beauty, or both, count!)

Spring Blossom...

Even though it's pretty much summer now, here are some photos of spring-y blossom from a couple of weeks ago...

It was soo pretty!

The View From My Window...Spring 2013...

This is what I've been treated to over the last few months...

You can see my winter photos here.

Yarn Bomb...

Look, someone yarn bombed on the clock in our town square!! Lots of lovely pom-poms!  I just had to take a photo!

Happy Easter...

Have a lovely day...hope the Easter Bunny has visited you!

The View From My Window...Winter 2013...

Is pretty...

Is yours?