ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 8TH OF 2018

Good morning lovely people 'tis Friday which means it is time for 

So Friday night found us out celebrating once again (the birthday celebrations seemed to go on somewhat), we went out for what was quite a disastrous meal out with my Mum and step-Dad, hubby, said 17 year old and his girlfriend, my sister and my niece and her boyfriend.  We arrived to find half of the menu wasn't available as it had been 'pre-ordered' by customers who were arriving later in the evening and it went downhill from there.

On a positive the company was good and the banter unusual (which is strangely nothing new for my lot if I'm honest). 

I got a lovely photo of said 17 year old and his girlfriend

and my niece and her boyfriend

Despite the dreadful meal, the restaurant went to extra lengths to make up for the farce as they offered to make us take out pizza when the expected party that had prevented us from ordering part of the menu didn't bother to turn up.  We left with lots of 'free' pizza, so the night wasn't a complete waste. 

I enjoyed playing in my art journal using distress inks and Posca paint pens over the weekend, despite the fact there was no rugby on.

Although I was fighting with a burlap page - I'd tried painting a mermaid but wasn't happy with the finished look so the white gesso came out.

On Saturday we had a lovely walk around a local country park, not somewhere that we frequent and we were concerned that the mud would be excessive, but we managed just fine in the hiking boots.

Looking back towards the cafe 

seeing all the birds on the water with the blue sky reflections

The sun from the other side of the park was gorgeous

Adamant to carry on with the crafting that I'd been enjoying last week, I managed not one scrapbook layout but three.  All three from a couple of years ago when we stayed in a cottage in Wiltshire.

Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm - where we got to see the original British Concorde

Avebury stone circle

And obviously Stonehenge

The rest of the week has been a bit of a blur if I'm honest. 

Very busy work days and what always seem very short evenings. 

But I've enjoyed curling up with my Lykke book and my magazine that I got whilst food shopping on Tuesday.

Having a cosy TV room one of the evenings when it was cold out made a change as we haven't had many over recent weeks. 

And finally Thursday morning, when on my way to my second job, I was driving along the road and turned the corner and the sun was this beautiful fireball in the sky, it literally took my breath away and really started my day off on such a positive note. 

By the time I got to work, the sun was much higher and smaller in the sky and didn't have quite the fire it had when I first saw it, but it created a beautiful morning sky photo nonetheless.

And that is my lot this week lovely people, I hope you've had a great week, if you fancy joining in pop a post together, pop back and link up so we can come and visit. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 7TH OF 2018

Good morning lovely people, tis sunny and blue skies in beautiful Yorkshire time to sit back and make note of the silver linings and powerful, positive moments that we've had over the last 7 days 

Time for 

So last Friday I had a brilliant gelli plating session I had no idea what for or what I was going to turn the art into but I had fun nonetheless.

My sister, Mum and niece popped over in the afternoon and as usual we put the world to rights as only we can

It was lovely to see the two cousins keeping themselves entertained! 

Next up Saturday morning, said 17 year old had agreed to attend a heritage workshop at my second job as they were in need of numbers (plus he hasn't worked with leather before).  He thoroughly enjoyed the two hour session creating this leather bracelet and keyring and he learnt a lot in the session which was brilliant. 

I ordered myself a Dina Wakley journal that has been on my wishlist forever and I made a start on it

Me and hubby toddled off to Brodsworth for some blue skies and winter air

Although the house isn't currently open, it is still beautiful to look at 

And the gardens always make it look much more summery than it is - don't you think?

However, don't let that greenery fool you - it was might cold

They've renewed some of the paths around the gardens and put in some new white gravel in the sunken garden - making it literally sparkle!

There were lots of these lovely flowers dotted around

And a definite sign Spring is on its way

We walked down into the sunken garden

And enjoyed a walk over to the little church

We also enjoyed a cream tea, but strangely I don't seem to have a photo of that

Being a February weekend, also meant that there was 6 nations rugby on, which also means I can art in some way shape or form. 

As it happened the gelli plates came in handy as they have now been turned into a more than ample pile of Christmas cards!

I also played in my new journal

With paints and posca paint pens

Said 17 year old helped me early in the week (we've both been off), with my first ever lino cut

Which led to some more cards - although apparently with a blurry photo!

Hubby arrived home on Tuesday with these beauties

And Wednesday saw both his birthday and my Mums.  I shared a single gift with him (although it is something to look forward to), obviously it was also Valentine's day and this is what he bought me - gobsmacked doesn't come close

We have lots of birthdays on Valentines day in February, from hubby's ex work colleague and friend Joy who shared birthday wishes with him, to my Aunty Jacqueline and another cousin.  I also remember one of my Uncles whose birthday it would have been if he was still with us.   

We headed into town on hubby's birthday (he had taken the day off) and wandered around, I still love the sculptures in the winter gardens

and the mobile in the main area

They've even got the Arctic Monkey's elephant in there

And other creatures lurking

As a surprise my sister arrived for the birthday meal - she was supposed to be training but it was cancelled at the last minute

And here is a shot of my brother and Mum

And me and hubby

And a shot of all of us, we were a little on the cool side as we were sat near the door as you can tell from hubby sat in coat and scarf.

My sister even managed a group shot!

Wednesday night we headed out to see the RSC live - 12th Night with none other than Adrian Edmondson - it was absolutely brilliant. 

We grabbed some food on the way home as said 17 year old had been on his NCS course and so we ate late but it was a good day overall.

Thursday arrived beautiful and sunny (which was a big improvement on Wednesday), said 17 year old was making a meal for him and his girlfriend in the evening, so me and hubby escaped to the cinema (again) and then grabbed a bite to eat. 

This was the view from the cinema as we sat in the bar area

This was my first glass of wine since the New Year and very nice it was too, I may then have had a couple more during the evening as hubby was driving.  My turn to drive tonight so I'll be on pop

And this was said 17 year old setting the table ready for his meal, isn't he awesome! 

And that my lovely people is that for a week, it has been grand having time off, not too much hustle and bustle, time to relax, make art, catch up with family and friends, enjoy birthdays - fabulous. 

I hope you've had an awesome week, if you fancy joining in pop a post together pop back link up and leave a comment so we can come and visit. 

ROCKING YOUR WORLD FRIDAY - 6TH OF 2018

Good morning lovely people, 'tis Friday which means its time to check out those positive, grateful, silver-lining moments from the week that was 

Well Friday we had a wood delivery due so me and said 17 year old were sat around waiting for the majority of the morning, I'd also volunteered to go and collect said 17 year old's girlfriend as she was over for the day but we needed the wood delivery first, however, when we realised the delivery was going to be late, I collected her and left said 17 year old at home holding the cash as it were.  I had a really lovely chat with said 17 year old's girlfriend on the way back, she is just lovely and when we arrived home we found that the wood had been delivered and said 17 year old was getting it sorted which was brilliant and didn't take too long. 

So next grateful is having the kiln dried wood again and the wood store full to the brim, hopefully this will last now until Spring and we won't need another delivery until Autumn (but it depends on how long this cooler weather stays with us, winter seems to have been mighty long this year). 

Next up is buying some primulas at the supermarket, 4 pots for less than £2, I spent a rather chilly Friday afternoon sorting the back garden pots out as they looked quite sad, the violas were no longer at their best and I'd lost a hebe just before winter set in.  There is now a small sprinkling of yellow and purple from the primulas amongst the pots.  I really enjoyed being out in the fresh air, hubby gave me a hand to finish off when he got in and we enjoyed a milky coffee outside whilst we were just tootling - like I said it's the small things that remind you of how awesome life can be. 

Friday evening was lovely and relaxed and chilled out and Saturday brought the beginning of the 6 Nations tournament which usually fills our TV calendar during February.  

We were hoping Scotland might win as we knew Wales were favourites, but Wales played the better game and stormed ahead.  The French/Irish game was painful I just don't like the style of playing if I'm honest of the French it relies heavily on defence and penalties and tends not to be a fast game, however when they went ahead of Ireland by a point I was gutted and knew it would be touch and go as to whether they could pull something out of the bag - and that they did a dropkick goal over the 80 minutes mark brought the game to an end with an Ireland win - woohoo! 

Sunday was another quiet affair at home, I did some more work on Christmas cards, we popped to see my Mum late morning, said 17 year old had been suffering with a significant cold for some weeks but now had an infected throat to add to his ailments, we ended up with him at the walk in clinic following a discussion with NHS direct, but he came home with just a throat spray which seemed to be of little use. 

We also enjoyed the England versus Italy game on the TV with an England win - yay!

Monday and he struggled into college and we got on with our working week, with a mixed day for me of both work places, but I got some things achieved.  By the evening he was worse despite us having a gig to go to. 

We picked up his girlfriend and headed into town around 6pm, meeting up with my brother, my brother's fiancee and my sister as well as some other friends.  Said 17 year old got quieter as the night wore on, really struggling with his throat, thankfully he rallied enough to enjoy the Highly Suspect gig which was awesome, I honestly didn't think they were ever going to leave the stage, they came on at 9.15pm and didn't get off stage until 11.15pm - one hell of a gig!  

We were all in good spirits when we got back in the car. 

Tuesday should have been an annual leave day for me, but that wasn't to be with a looming deadline, however, the time spent was worthwhile as it got the job done and meant that I could attend my day's training on Wednesday as that was in jeopardy with the deadline looming.  

Tuesday also found said 17 year old having to give in and stay off college, his first day away from it since he started in September, he simply wasn't well enough and spent the day in PJ's.  By Tuesday evening he decided to try a couple of other remedies for the infected throat, which by Wednesday saw a good improvement, meaning he could make his NCS graduates training course in the evening. 

As usual my week was full of work, but I had some positive interactions with colleagues this week which have been good.  I haven't managed any crafting recently but with a week off commencing today, I'm hoping to remedy that to some degree.  

Thursday I was at my other job and all was quiet, I got quite a bit of work done and am ever so grateful that the lovely Janet provided toast as I was having a pretty hectic day and hadn't had breakfast - she is literally a star! 

The rest of the day flew by and despite having some issues to address we got on with things, however, the main accounting software did a major upgrade just before I closed the computer down, which meant that I had to wait and by the time it converted the data it had lost all my customers, sigh, so that's something to sort out when I'm back in, at that point I threw in towel and came home. 

Hubby was on with the usual Thursday night clean so I joined in and it was soon complete and then we grabbed a takeaway (very naughty), but neither of us fancied cooking and then we were chilling on the sofa again. 

Overall a quiet week (which lacked photos - sorry - I promise to be better this week) and now I find myself at Friday again.  

I hope you've had a grand week, if you fancy joining in, pop a post together, come back link up and we can come and visit.  If you don't have a blog, then remember to clock those positive moments in your head, they make such a difference!