10 Good Things

I recently read Little Miss Katy’s blog post on 10 Good Things and thought that was exactly the type of thing I could jump on board with, because we all need a bit of positivity in the small things in life, don’t we? I’ve done a 5 Happy Things post before, so this is slightly more of a challenge, but I’ve pulled a few of the more random but good things that have happened in the past week or so in my life in to make this post happen.

So what good things have happened in your life recently?

1. Vintage Kilo Sale

This weekend, I went shopping with my sister to Leeds. As we were walking along, I noticed she’d managed to pick up one of those flyers that you see people handing out all over the streets. While telling her that she should know how to avoid them by now, I noticed that, actually, it looked quite interesting. It was advertising a Vintage Kilo sale in a church just around the corner. I’d heard of these before but never actually been, so we decided to give it a go. It was 50p each to get in, then (while Beth rested because I’d worn her out with shopping!) I scoured the rails for interesting pieces. I picked up several things, based mostly on their interesting fabrics thinking that I could refashion them into something else. I ended up with 4 dresses and a blouse for £15 (they weighed just slightly over a kilo all together). It wasn’t till I got home that I discovered…they all fit me!! The 70s maxi dress is probably going to get the chop though – possibly only the sleeves, maybe the whole bodice. And I did half consider a chop of the hemline of that first one, but it’s SO AWESOME as it is, that I think I’ll keep it like that (Ben hates it, I don’t care!). In addition to the above, I also got a red gingham tie blouse (sort of featured in the image above) and a more muted colour floral dress with buttons down the front, more pics to come of that soon I’d imagine!

2. Eating ALL the food

On Friday night, even though we had tea planned, I decided I wanted to go out. And for once, Ben agreed! Normally we’ll just go to a local pub, but I finally got my own way and managed to get him to one of the chains down in York – Frankie & Bennys. Then the next day, when shopping with my sister, we went to TGI Fridays for lunch and had mocktails (we both had to drive), potato skins and a main meal each – yums! (Spot my sister’s creepy eye in the above pic!!)

3. Getting back into swimming

After a couple of weeks off swimming because I couldn’t breathe through my nose or even move for a good few days thanks to my flu, I’m back at the pool again now and did a good half hour before work yesterday. I’m starting a routine of swimming at least 3 days a week, plus 15 minutes of gym beforehand if I can manage it, and a longer session there on a Saturday – we’ll see how it goes!

4. My goddaughter’s 1st birthday

Last week saw my friend’s little girl turn 1 – crazy!! I went over on Sunday for a little tea party (getting to use party plates and cups again for party food, woop!) with her other godmothers (see us all at her Christening here), and we had so much opening presents with her, singing Baa Baa Black Sheep and playing in her new ball pool. The blanket in the photo is handmade by Katy, and she made her a bunny rabbit too – amazing! She sells stuff here if anyone’s interested 🙂

5. Cocktail making

After wanting a cocktail at Frankie & Bennys but not being able to because I had to drive, Ben said we could go to Tesco to get all the ingredients I wanted for cocktails – woop! I ended up with some sort of Midori fruit punch that was super sweet and sickly – just the way I like it!

6. New Shoes

I’ve wanted a pair of Mel flats for ages – I’ve already got a pair of the Vivienne Westwood/Melissa heels and they’re pretty much my favourite shoes ever, but only come out for occasions since they’re ever so slightly too small and a bit much for daily workwear. And I also own a (fake) pair of the Lady Dragon ones, but being fake, they’re not exactly great quality and aren’t very wearable. SO, I spotted the Mel flats in Office when we were shopping and ended up going back for them. My sister now really wants a pair too! They’re really comfortable and a bit more interesting than my usual black flats, although I’ve managed to ruin the back heel of the right one already (after only 2 days wear!) thanks to the accelerator pedal of my car, boo. I also managed to do something really really bad (in my eyes at least!) and buy….a Victoria’s Secret bra – horror of horrors if you know me! It’s not my size, or really anywhere close, but I can definitely get away with it, at least I think! I have spent waaay too much on clothes and furniture recently, although up until this weekend, I hadn’t bought any clothes for about 2 months (aside from using a voucher…doesn’t count!), so it’s all justified, promise! The blouse in the above photo is also from the Vintage Kilo sale by the way – felt quite summery in this outfit yesterday!

7. Reading about Michelle’s news

I’ve read Michelle’s blog and been “blog friends” with her for years now, so I was super excited to find out she’s pregnant, and we now know, expecting a little boy! Can’t way to read more of this journey 🙂

8. Ripon is a beautiful (and strange!) place to work

I try to walk up to town as often as I can during my lunch breaks and it’s a lovely place to walk. I can either go one way, across the river to the canal (where my sewing shop is!) or up past the Cathedral – both are beautiful. It’s also a bit of an odd place – yesterday I spotted these two ducks taking themselves on a sightseeing trip (looking like a lovely old couple) and a man walking his cat, yep.

9. Reading about Charlotte’s 10K success

Another blog friend I’ve known for seemingly forever, I was so pleased to read about Charlotte’s success in her Manchester 10K run this past weekend – I love reading these posts from her showing how much enthusiasm for what she’s doing and realising that she can do it well. Definitely motivation for me to keep going at the gym and swimming, even if I can’t run because I keep spraining my ankles!

10. These two:

Not that much to say about them aside from, why, with all the lovely places they have to sleep in the house, would they choose to sleep on the same step?!