January

Happy January.  This was the lovely sunrise over my garden fence this morning but if folklore is to be believed, which it is (red sky at dawn shepherd be warned), we are in for some wicked weather... it's freezing cold here, I have given up turning the heating up and put some extra layers and handwarmers on.

 

There was shopping, but after Christmas, when the sales were at their best (50% or more off) which is when I bought three pretty tops from East to wear on our trip to India later this year.  Looks like they go with everything I own pretty much.  We will be taking internal flights so will have a very small luggage allowance, everything will have to earn its space in the suitcase.Blue hand printed skirt is an oldie (An Indian Summer) but a favourite.

The brown East skirt was also in the sale, it's hand printed.  I am really loving browns and rusts at the moment.  The blouse has a lovely gold print and is super light and airy - ideal for keeping mosquitos off in the evening!

It was a big problem getting our visa for India.  Infact the consulate were only allowing appointments for in person applications (at great expense) and it was impossible to get one, we had to change our flights and itinerary completely to this Spring, we lost a bit of money too as the airline charged us - our original booking was for November.  But in December, just days after our coveted appointment was finally bagged (by sitting every night at 7pm exactly and waiting for the appointments to be released online in limited numbers).... India decided to bring back online visa applications for British applicants - yay! we got ours returned within 24 hours. 

Thank goodness.

Nothing wrong with pre-loved though, the skirt below is probably from around 1970 snapped up on Ebay for a silly price as nobody else bid on it, that was several years ago but I have worn it a lot.  It seems happy paired with my new blouse.

Here's my favourite Christmas present, a beautiful tree of life embossed leather writing book, which takes refills.

Mollie has a new sparkly collar.  She likes the cold weather - was out in the garden watching birds for three hours today!  It's been between -2 and -6 but with her fur coat on she's happy.

I have repotted most of my houseplants. It was difficult to get the moss pole but eventually I found one

in the garden centre languishing in a corner which they let me have for two quid.  The orchids were from good old Lidl and have been flowering non-stop for weeks.   Unfortunately having men in the house has it's hazards and my table has some damage, any ideas how to remove those ugly water stains? 

I had my paints out but nothing very exciting was produced since my Christmas card masterpiece, that's often the way - moments of inspiration followed by weeks or months of not a lot but I will keep at it.  

Hope you are enjoying January, thanks for stopping by :)