Christmas Extravaganza Weekend

In the deepest darkest hours of Friday morning we set off for Glasgow with the Mother in Law for the Country Living Christmas Fair. As always we stopped off for bacon butties at The Horn between Dundee and Perth-it is a total institution and no trip South could be complete without it!

When we arrived at the Fair we had a teeny look around and then sat in on the first workshop which was all about gift wrapping. The Mother in Law and I made two ribbons, although I'm probably going to have to take them apart and start again as they were really quite awful…I'm going to claim it was because I was too busy looking at everything.  Jane Means who runs that particular workshop charges over £100 for gift wrap classes!! Can you imagine?  I'd expect the presents to be included!!    

Picture taken from Appleby Bakery

After spending too much money and time we checked in at The Malmaison, had a quick lie down and bath then set off into Glasgow to go to Jamie Oliver’s restaurant. It doesn’t take reservations so we had a tiny bit of a wait outside, but quickly got in and was sent down stairs where we managed to get a lovely little booth. We were lucky as the booths are difficult to get, they are hidden away behind the pillars of the basement, but are glass above, so we saw lots of twinkling lights from our dark hidey hole! Unfortunately I left my cousins Birthday present at the desk where part of it got smashed. As it was all gift wrapped we didn’t see that this had happened until it was unwrapped so I felt so bad and really quite cross that I had been so silly as to let it out of my sight. Accidents happen!

On Saturday we checked out and drove into town and parked up so we could walk about Glasgow. My uncle and I nearly went to look at an art gallery, but I decided that there were too many beautiful things in shop windows at Christmas time to miss. We got a Starbucks first to keep us going-The Red Cups!! What more do I need to say?!! We then walked down the street stopping off at Whittard’s, Fraser’s, The White Company and Crabtree and Evelyn. The Husband was very ‘kind’ and kept taking the bags back to the car. ‘Unfortunately’ he kept taking longer and longer to come back, until at last I found him listening to a talking book in the car…yes, that’s right! He gave up and just stayed there.

It wasn’t the money that was spent…as always more than was meant, but the time The Husband and I got to be together. It was a really special weekend, I loved it, I loved it because it was Christmassy, because there were loads of pretty things, but also because we got to wonder around and share so many things. I love weekends away because more often than not you save and save for them, so that when it comes you can just think of doing all the things that are lovely and can help a relationship to build wonderful memories. That’s all anything really is, just building memories, working so you have time at the weekend to build memories, saving so that when you’re off you can build memories….all I want to do is build the best foundation for us, and one day a family. Until then I am quite content to share these things with my husband, and our extended families.

I hope you are getting through the week without the bug that’s floating around.
Sheila
x

Mary Poppins you sweetheart!

Mary Poppins had a give away not too long ago and i was super lucky to win it!!  It was a whole load of Dorset Cereal bars and a cute lunch bag for me to carry them..

Well, just this morning my Dorset Cereal bars arrived! They are delicious.

Yummy!!
I wish I could do a great big post explaining how happy I was when they came in the post, but I'm still under the weather and cant really muster the strength to tell you how grateful I am.

I have taken these pictures which I hope will make up for this. So from the very bottom of my heart…THANK YOU!

Fill the house with festive scents!

While in Glasgow we got to visit one of my favourite shops, Whittards.  We used to have one in Aberdeen but it became a victim of the credit crunch and closed up shop.  It was wonderfully festive to trot inside the festively decorated shop and taste the delicious delicacies in the forms of tea, hot chocolates, coffees and chocolates...they truly are yummy!
So for now i will be drinking up the copious amounts of mulled wine tea we bought up (among other things) as not only is it heavenly, but its aroma permeates the whole house and leaves us all feeling all the more festive for it as well!
x

First Snow of Winter!

Okay, these were taken five minutes ago from the window...as you can see from the reflection!

I can't say its the first snow of the year, it stopped snowing here in May!

But it is the first snow we've seen in this house!

Really more hale than snow....but white all soft all the same

Poor neglected back garden!

Oooh am i that fairy of a white light in the window....ooops, just the flash!!

Its been a while!

Oh my goodness, I've caught the dreaded lurgy, that's for sure.  We had a really wonderful long weekend doing all things Christmassy, but i honestly can not even gather the strength to type up about it.  Unfortunately i didn't get as many photos as i would have liked, but i do have some, and i want to write a raving review about the Jamie Oliver restaurant in George Square-its beyond scrumptious!!

Anyhooo...i hope you all had a wonderful weekend full of Christmas flavoured delights...i know i have a whole load of posts to catch up on!
x

My favourite Chrismas films

There are a great many things that happen in the run up to Christmas which each family claims is a tradition and makes them know that Christmas is coming.  Mine is that I need to look out certain Christmas films and start watching them way...way ahead of time.  These are probably only a small selection of films which I 'approve' of during the festive season...as quite frankly there are a whole host of others including Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang and Narnian classics.

These are in no particular order and just added to this list as I saw fit, however you have to agree, if there were a proper list this would have to be at the top!  Everyone knows and most likely loves this film.

 

I adore this film, over the top and just the way I like it at Christmas.

The Polar Express is great, I even bought some little bells from the Haddo Christmas Fair last weekend and claimed I could hear the ringing as it was Christmassy!  The Husband didn't know what the heck I was going on about!

Perfect, perfect, wonderful Christmas film.  Truly a snoozey Sunday in December film.

Tim Allen, what are you doing in this list again?  Oh yes, I remember!  This film made Christmas when I was growing up.  Its one of the first Christmassy films I remember watching after my own parents divorced and I remember quite liking that you got a wonderful film where a Mummy and Daddy didn't live together in it!  I do love all of the films where things are picture perfect, but you have to admit that would be an unattainable goal for little souls to get their heads around...I much prefer films where things go a little wrong and people learn to love their lot.

As everyone who knows me will be aware I adore A Christmas Carol in all its guises, but I couldn't possibly list all of the 'nod to Dickens' films there are.  So the one that I just have to watch is this.  Sheer childish indulgence!   

How do I love thee?  I saw this three, count it three times in the cinema when this came out.  I cried non stop the first time with one of my college friends.  In happiness and sadness.  The second time with my boyfriend of the time....Yuk-he didn't get it and no wonder I use the past tense, and the third time with my brother.  Poor Big Brother, dragged along because his little sister wanted to go!  An amazing film, with an amazing cast, I can not picture Christmas without it.

Elf....need I say more?

One from when I was little, still giggle at the thought of a department called Patch instead of dispatch!

Ahhh, heaven!  The first time I saw this it was the newer version.  It was Christmas Eves Eve and I was glittering up pine cones in front of the fire on the big fluffy rug...eeeek, must have been the time of the year which meant I didnt get told to do that in the kitchen!  It is a great film and one to be watched because of the cast alone....trust me.

Ive never seen the original and so I can only say that I love this one, the little girl is so adorable and I love the thought of being able to ask Santa for a baby!

Great film just to see the beautiful locations, and the little tent in the little girls room.

Heaven in a box set if at all possible!  There you have it, I like it over the top, sugar plum sweet romantic.



Dear Santa....

Dear Santa, I have been exceptionally good this year....

I haven't caused too much mischief....

I didn't stay up too late.....

AND I've kept my room tidy.

Thank you very much Santa...I will leave out an extra large chocolate chunk cookie for you.

Love Sheila

x

When life hands you lemons....

The drama is over!  Once again I feel calm and as if all is well in the world. 

Isn't it funny how easy things can take over?  Things that do matter, but won't for a very long time?  Things that are completely out-with our control, and we act as if they are our problem that needs to be 'fixed'-as opposed to dealt with. 

I took my own advice for once and decided to go on a walk...a cleansing, fresh air filled walk.  I wanted to see things in perspective and and clear my head and lungs.

One of my favourite walks, I went on it during the nice Autumnal weather, but Winter is well and truly on its way now, and the scenes are so much different.  You should be able to see back to the village, but the whole area is covered in thick harr.  Harr, I think, is a north east word from the Doric language and really just means really thick cold mist. 

I've taken this picture loads of times in much nicer weather, it's funny how the same scene can be seen a million different ways.

A river that has run from the village since the land was created....makes me feel ashamed I've been causing such a fuss over something that will 'just happen', like the river.  The way things are meant to be will just forge their way through life and we'll have to make our own way no matter what's been thrown at us.

The white horses are lashing against the rocks, I suddenly feel very small and insignificant.  It's a good feeling.  Its not very good when you start to feel that you are the be all and end all.  When you feel like the world should stop and mourn with you I guess that's when the problems start.  I like being a very small speck on the landscape. 

In warmer weather we dipped our feet in the water...I wouldn't do that for any amount of money you offered me now!  It's super frosty and I love the feeling of a cold nose and cheeks.  I love it when you go a bit red from the cold...but march on regardless.  You know you can go home and get warm.  Wrap yourself in blankets and be grateful for those things, those very simple things.

Where ever I turned the sea was wild.  The waves got much bigger than I could catch on camera.  Most of the tiny rock islands were completely covered by the sea.

Hardly anybody dared to come out and walk, I think I only saw one fisherman for the entire walk.

I don't know where he would have come from though?

Stinky, stinky dog.....Maybe I am a little glad we didn't bump in to anybody.

She seems happy with herself...simple pleasures working for you then?

It was starting to get cold as the sun was dipping behind the cliffs.

It didn't make the sea want to calm down at all.

 

Maybe one of the first things I should be grateful for really is that nobody saw me, had I been wearing a petticoat it would have been six inches deep in mud!

As would Daisys

..........................Hence the shower.

So life is probably going to continue to throw some curve balls.....the F.R.I.E.N.D.S. theme tune is playing in my head already.



I give you Dorothy Parker

Résumé

Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live

Just what i needed!

Restoring..

Ever get days where you just feel heavy? Heavy in the heart and the head? Heaviness that pulls down your whole body? Your whole being? Everything seems too much, even If it’s only a very small task? I've got that right now…and for no apparent reason it’s bringing me down.


I am lucky, I do have a wonderful life, and really (and sadly) there is a small reason for me to be down….but I just can’t shake it. I know its not the worst feeling in the world, and that other people have much greater problems, but its something deep inside me and quite frankly its how I feel, no matter how melancholic or self indulgent it is.

I've been heading back and forth to the Dr for a little while now to get some bloods and the increasingly grouchy receptionists don’t make the trip there any better.

What do you need that for? Another appointment?

You know the kind of person….although I sincerely hope you don’t.

It’s hard to throw yourself into Christmas excitement and all of the lovely things in life when these people are around making a menace of any happy feeling!

I am currently up to my eyeballs in appointments for one thing or another, so I maybe do need time to walk, venture, create or do nothing. I need time to think and to breathe fresh air. Whenever I have a problem I need to walk…need to get out of the house and see everything there is that is bigger than me. Things that just are. The sea and the cliffs ‘just are’, the flowers and the trees ‘just are’. I need to be with those things to heal and feel myself again.

This post wasn’t about anything at all…mostly me thinking out loud….but sometimes those are the posts I like reading. Today it’s the post I needed to make.

Sheila
x

At long last part one of the swap!

This is my very long over due post about the amazing swap parcel from Dawn!!  Thank you so much...i've been posting everywhere and telling anyone who will listen about all of the fab things posted through to me, but here i go again...and then i promise i'll put it to bed!

My camera ran out of battery just as i put it on to take a picture of the beautiful parcel...well, whats a girl to do?  I could have charged it and not opened up....nah!!! I rushed right in!

Yummy..i wish we had a waitrose up this far north!

oooh a pretty mushroom......

a lovely bird feeder....those lucky things..

a knitted pretty.  Very Autumnal!  I wish i had the skill to do amazing things like this!

I need to go about the house finding everything i was given in the swap as when i got the parcel everything instantly found its own place in my home.