Liebster Award

Hello everyone,

Well, it has been utterly miserable here.  For weeks, the sky has been grey and I've been rained on every day that I've left the house, it has been most unpleasant.  It also makes me feel grumpy and like hibernating.

However, two things have cheered me right up - the first that I have 50 followers on my little blog now... I never thought I'd get even 5, so this is so lovely... and I love to read other peoples blogs to motivate me, your pictures are all so pretty and uplifting!

The other reason I'm smiling is because two people have given me the Liebster Award!  They are the lovely Emma at xxxstitching and Beverly at weestitchy.

Liebster is a German word meaning favourite, dearest or beloved. The Liebster Blog Award is awarded by bloggers to other new bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to help spread the word about their blogs and to help them gain wider recognition.

The Liebster award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting.
Choose 5 up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers to award the Liebster to.
Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.
Share 5 random facts about yourself that people don’t know about you.”
So here we go...

It's not that I can't pick 5 blogs, but I'd rather pick a couple that I find really outstanding and whose posts I particularly love to catch up with... I don't know if this means I don't satisfy the conditions or not, but oh well, it's meant to be fun right and to point people at new blogs to follow...so here are my top picks...

1. http://charbellastitching.blogspot.co.uk/ - I've really loved watching the progress on Faery Tales, and I find it very motivational because I've just started my first HAED - there are people who actually manage to make a ton of progress, so maybe one day I will get mine finished!!

2. http://cathycrossstitch.blogspot.co.uk/ - her latest post on stash collections really struck a chord with me - I have dabbled in different crafts and have decided Cross Stitch is where I'm happiest. But each craft seems to need so much stash. Even though you could in theory stitch a project at a time and have only one little packet at a time, why then do I have 4 boxes full?

And my five random facts:

1. My right thigh is numb from an operation I had 10 years ago on my hip.
2. I dont like shopping for shoes or handbags. Jackets and boots are my bag, baby!
3. Although I always said I'd move back up north at some point, London has really grown on me. I'd be happy to stay.
4. I love to look at fashion blogs. Even though I'm not very fashionable. Must try harder...how do these people know how to accessorise properly and it seems to have completely passed me by?
5. I have a stuffed wombat called Wozza. That was also the nickname of my first boyfriend. I didn't name the wombat, funnily enough, but it makes me laugh when I think about it.

STEPS @Sheffield Arena

Last weekend, I went to see STEPS.  (there was much ribbing in the office about this and the fact that since I went with my family, I must have been taking someone aged about 11).

As much as I liked them 10 years ago, for some reason, I had never seen them live before - perhaps because there hadn't been anyone for me to go with at that time.  I'd watched the Sky TV show about them all getting back together and putting their differences aside, and well, I must admit that some members came across much better than others.  It seemed like there was a huge amount of pressure for them to reform, and pull a stage show together in a matter of only a few months.

However, it was clear from the offset that this was something the fans really wanted.  The Sheffield show, and I'm sure many of the others were sell outs.  I had pretty good tickets, fairly close to the stage on one of the sides of the arena.  And to me, Sheffield is one of the best arenas, because wherever you are, the view is pretty good.  And the crowd is always amazing.

What a show it was.  Clearly the budget had been thrown out of the window and it was pretty spectacular staging.  On top of that, the routines were huge amounts of fun, and for anyone who had known the dances to a Steps song back in the day, they were given the chance to brush off their dancing shoes and join right back in again.

But then there was the singing.  They sang live.  They each did a solo.  Lee's rendition of Moves Like Jagger was pretty cool indeed.  Lisa surprised me by her solo, because she proved to me that actually, her voice is pretty good.  And Claire.  Well, Claire brought the house down.  You know one of those roars of approval from the audience that sounds almost respectful.  Throughout the whole song.  It's hard to describe, but amazing to experience and she left the stage with tears in her eyes and a happy glow on her face.

But all in all a really fun night out, it was a massive party from start to finish, and I've not been to an arena show with an atmosphere like that since the Spice Girls.  I hope they are back for a while yet, because I think this is a band with a lot of life still in them.

TUSAL April 2012

These months go by quite quickly when you're not paying attention.  And here we are, it's TUSAL time again.  You know the drill - if you want know what what the TUSAL is, there's a little graphic on the right hand side of the page that you can go and click.  It'll take you to Daffycat's Blog.

Progress this month has been almost nothing on Moonlit Waters, but I have been out and about travelling at weekends quite a bit visiting family, so I've been working on my travelling pattern.

So, here's my jar update, and my travelling pattern photograph.  It's coming on quite nicely, I'm pretty happy with the progress on it.

Happy Easter!

Hello everyone,
I wanted to say that I hope you all had a lovely Easter.
We spent it with family which was lovely, and it was great to get out of London.
The Easter bunny delivered chocolate treats to my hubby this morning ( I picked a rotten time to give up all things chocolatey!)
This afternoon will no doubt be spent watching naff films on the TV (currently we are watching Class, which has Andrew McCarthy in it...you see what I mean...)
Enjoy the rest of the long weekend!
Ricketyjo
x

TUSAL March 2012

Good grief, I can't believe it's that time again... I don't know where my days are disappearing to.

It's another new moon though, so time for the TUSAL (if you don't know what it is, head to Daffycat's blog - link on the right hand side of the page)

Most of the threads are still from Moonlit Waters, so there's a lot of dark ones in there (although I think the flash brightened them all up a little), done mainly while I was watching the motor race at the weekend.

Not much else to update, I've been busy working :)

TTFN!
Jo x

Coping methods

Sometimes, London can feel a bit overwhelming.  There are people everywhere you are trying to walk, runners getting in your way, noisy traffic hurtling down the street next to you, crowded tubes full of people so that you hardly have space to breathe.

When this happens, I like to put on my ipod, and block out the world.  I pretend that I'm in a film of my life and that the music is the soundtrack.  When I walk down the street, I'm walking with purpose, like I'm getting to the important part of the movie.  Then I end up grinning to myself about how bizarre that would probably seem to anyone else.

And then everything seems fine and less overwhelming.  Because it's MY movie, with my soundtrack and everyone else is just an extra.

Flashback... Perth

This time last year, we were in Perth having a wonderful honeymoon.  It's been a bit of a depressing thought this week while I've been at work, so I dug out the blog we wrote while we were away and I thought I'd share some of the things we wrote and photos that my hubby took.  All photos copyright Robert May.

Fremantle

11th March 2011
Last minute change of plans today.  We had planned to get up and go to Rottnest Island, however, an evening of drinking and a bit of jet lag meant that we didn’t surface early enough to get a whole day trip, so we decided to pop to Fremantle and then have dinner not too far away on Cottesloe beach.
First up though was a breakfast in a little cafe we spotted yesterday close to our hotel.  After munching down Eggs Benedict (Rob) and Eggs Florentine (Joanne) and doing a little trip research using their wifi, we left Tom’s Kitchen and headed towards the train station for the short hop to Fremantle.


It was quite an interesting place, with many little shops, and a few large harbours. We found a lovely little bar called The Monk Bar and Kitchen where we sampled some house wine and lager, and Rob had his favourite espresso yet. Then we meandered to a small beach, and stopped to take in the beautiful blue-green sea. We stopped quickly to look at a gallery of stunning underwater photography, (www.glencowans.com) and then headed back towards the station to catch the train a few stops to Cottesloe.


In Cottesloe, we had our minds on dinner in a restaurant pictured on the gift list site, but they were having a private function so were unavailable. Thankfully, we wandered further along the coast and found a quieter grouping of restaurants, including the gorgeous beachside Barchetta restaurant, who were able to fit us in. We happily watched the sun set as we ate fantastic pizza and scoffed some delicious Rose fizz.