It's Like the Oscars, Only Better

An award? For moi? Why, thank you. Gush, gush, sob, sob, I'd like to thank my...sniff... parents... my...sniff....husband...my....oh golly I'm getting tear stains on my Dior (Galliano to be au courrent...) dress.

Sorry, I'll pull myself together and say a proper thank you to Tracy at Mad About Bags for nominating me for the Stylish Blogger Award

The rules are that I have to thank Tracy (which I would anyway, even if it wasn't one of the rules, because I'm polite like that!); tell you seven random things about myself; nominate 15 more bloggers; and let those bloggers know they've been nominated. So, here goes

Firstly, thank you, Tracy, for thinking of me when it came to giving out this award!

Secondly, seven things about me

1) I live in Reading (I was born in Bristol, came to Reading in 1990 to study at uni and sort of got stuck here) with hubby and our little boy who is soon to turn two (where did that time go?!)

2) In seven weeks time we'll be moving to a small village in south Somerset - ayyyeeee, I'm nervous!

3) I work from home, for a publishing company, which offers me such a huge amount of flexibility in how I plan (or don't plan) my days

4) I studied Ancient History at university and have an MA in Ancient Social and Cultural Studies

5) I love coffee (has to be proper coffee, none of that nasty instant stuff) but don't like tea one little bit

6) I'm always late. I get sidetracked so easily and always think that whatever needs to be done before I need to be somewhere will take less time than it invariably does. This is a bad habit.

7) I'm addicted to buying books. But you probably already knew that.

Now for 15 blogs to nominate

My Life in Flip Flops

Curlew Country

Gigi Bird

How Soon Is Now?

Skein Queen

My Little Life

Oh dear, this is taking me so long that I fear I'll never get this post published, so I'm going to stop there and have a think of some more blogs to nominate next time. Until then, have fun!

Obsession Continues

Avid readers of this blog (who am I trying to kid?!) will know that I have a bit of a problem. It's regarding books. I just can't stop buying them. And last weekend was no exception. Before Christmas I'd seen this book in Waterstones. I know the old saying advises against such a thing, but it was the cover that caught my attention. Surely judging a book by its cover is what most people do? If I ever write a book (and there's a book in all of us, don't forget!) I'll be sure to have some (a lot of) input as to the cover design.

Anyway, last Sunday Family W were having a wander round Henley-on-Thames and we took a little look in the Oxfam Bookshop (of course.) And what should I see on the shelf, but the book from Waterstones. And not just that one, but several others from the series. What's a girl to do? Even though I've not read any by this author, the cover got me, and I quickly snapped up all five.

Now my bookshelves are even more crazy-full than they were before, (below are the books I bought in New York still struggling to find themselves a spot)even though I'm doing my best to read as quickly as possible and cramming in an extra hour a week by reading while on the treadmill at the gym - multi-tasking at its best. I'm just making no inroads whatsoever. Top shelf are my 'read' books.

Last time I wrote about my groaning bookshelves was back at the beginning of September; at that point I had 131 unread books, now I have 180...

Oh well, never mind. There are a lot worse things to be addicted to than books.

Test Driving

Hubby & I are on the hunt for a new car. We figure when we move to a small village where there's about one bus a day, as opposed to one every ten minutes where we live now, we'll probably have to become a two-car family. Our current car is a ten-year old Ford Focus estate known as Monty. Monty will still be a valued member of the family, but he probably won't be as well-loved as the new car will be.

Yesterday we took one of these not-so-little beauties out for a test drive, the Honda CR-V:

and we really rather liked it. Obviously the Honda garage pulled the top-of-the range model out for us to take a spin in, so we were wowed by the leather seats, panoramic glass roof, sat-nav, iPod docking thingamijig, etc, etc. We also like the fact that it has 4WD which kicks in automatically when needed, which is something we think could come in handy on those country lanes in rural Somerset-shire.

Today we are off to test drive one of these, the Nissan Qashqai:

Don't you just love the name? Who came up with that? Did they realise it sounded like 'cash cow' and thought it would be just the perfect moniker for a car that has become extremely popular?

Do any of you own either of the above cars? If yes, what do you think of them? Would you recommend?

The World From a Different Perspective

Our darling boy has had/still has various obsessions in his short life thus far - we have endured a 'thing' about doors which meant no fingers or toes were safe in the vicinity while he merrily swung doors (internal doors, external doors, gates, cupboard doors, washing machine doors - you name it, if it came with a hinge, it was sent a-swinging) back and forth. For the most part, that particular obsession seems to have run its course, with the exception of the washing machine door which still gets flung about on a regular basis. And, talking of washing machines, that was another of his obsessions; whenever it was on he would stand there for hours watching the clothes spin round, sticking his head in the door, opening and shutting the soap powder drawer; even now he loves to turn the switch to 'off' while the machine is trying to clean the copious amounts of dirt/dried food/vomit out of his clothes (and ours), he also likes to 'help' put the dirty clothes in and get the clean clothes out. Bless.

There are two current, on-going obsessions; one is with phones in all shapes and sizes - mobile phones, cordless phones, old-fashioned phones, toy phones; the other is with cameras.

Firstly, let's talk about phones or, as DC would have it, 'daddies'. Yes, that's right, a phone in this house is called a 'daddy'. Confusing, non? Let me explain. When DC was even younger than he is now (and he's not yet two, so that's quite young) and Daddy used to phone us, I would always point to the phone and say 'It's Daddy' while I was talking. Poor little sausage. I obviously didn't make things clear that the dismembered voice on the other end of the contraption was 'Daddy' while the contraption itself was a 'phone.' We're getting there slowly and now phones are sometimes called 'tone' and sometimes still called 'daddy.' Luckily for Daddy, he is always called 'Daddy' and not 'tone'. The obsession with phones also means we can't walk past a phone box without him having to go in and play; he got a bit upset the other day when somebody actually wanted to use the phone box he was playing in - I literally had to drag him out and then he lay on the pavement sulking for ages and I had to pretend he wasn't mine.

Now, on to the camera or, as DC would have it the 'cheese.' Ah yes, a camera is called a 'cheese.' Again, my fault because every time I point a camera in his direction I say 'Say cheese.' And he does. And holds out his hands for the 'cheese' to be handed over so he can play with it. And, therein lies the explanation behind the title for this posting because, while playing with the phone, DC has also worked out how to press the 'taking photos' button. And here, for your viewing pleasure, is a selection of photos of the world as seen through the eyes of a small boy and his cheese:

This one is entitled 'ear and microwave at home'
Here we have 'ear and back door'This is 'swirly wall, Abbotsbury'Here we have 'phone box, Bridport'And here is 'wall, tree, berries, ear'Here is 'pavement, location unknown'And finally 'bib on floor of hotel room, West Bay'. Nice play of light on floor, don't you think?

A Weekend in Somerset

Tomorrow Family W are off to Somerset/Dorset for the weekend. We've a VERY busy Friday ahead; if all goes to plan, it should look a little something like this:

8.30am: leave house with car packed to gunwales, including small child, if we can squeeze him in
11am: appointment to view potential nursery for small child in Ilminster
12noon: meet architect and windowman (plus my mum and other visitors) at the Somerset house to discuss where we are at/what happens next
1.30pm: very important part of day's schedule - lunch in what will be 'our local' pub, The Lord Poulett Arms
2pm: (think we'll have to nip out from the pub for this one) appointment to view potential rental house in village so we have somewhere to live while our house is being demolished/extended/generally titivated
3.30pm: appointment to view another potential nursery for small child in Crewkerne
Then, head to West Bay where we are booked in for two nights at the lovely West Bay Hotel; am hoping they still have the wonderful scallops/garlic/bacon combo on the menu that I drooled over last time.
And reeeeeeelaaaaaaaaaax.
8pm: meet up for dinner at said West Bay Hotel with our lovely friends R&G, who run the fantabulous Lazyhill Gallery in nearby Abbotsbury.
Later: sleeeeep.

Luckily there's no real timetable to stick to on Saturday, so I expect a spot of pottering in Bridport (weather permitting) and then a trip along the coast to Abbotsbury will be in order.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!