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1. It’s like Spring has arrived after all of that snow. Birds are madly singing and flowers are blooming, including the first crocuses in my backyard pots

2. A visit to a hospital dermatologist was enlivened by many crazy antics including a mad Russian doctor who obviously thought I was a lazy wimp for opting to buy a water filter rather than wash my skin and hair with a glass of water with a teaspoon of vinegar in it, receptionists that wandered in and out of consultations and a nurse hollering through the toilet door at a poor girl trying to give a urine sample (YOU CAN’T GO?! TRY RUNNING THE WATER!) while the waiting room unsuccessfully tried to pretend they were laughing at something else.

3. We finally sat down and picked out and printed photos of the local area and travels for people back home

4. I’ve got some great books to read on the planes and to leave here for when I get back (in case the cold depresses me!)

5. Have started packing for Australia. Am getting excited at thought of wearing summer clothes (I even have a couple of tops I brought with me but I haven’t worn over here!).

6. Togs (swim suit to non-Queenslanders) still fit. Phew.

7. Getting to say “see you soon” in a casual manner to my sister on the phone this morning!

Other lists up at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

1. Having a wonderful holiday and making it back again safely! We ended up travelling through Germany into Austria, on to Venice and back home through France. None of my fears about being snowed in or the performance of our small and aged car came to pass.

2. I'll try to blog more later this week, but one lovely event was that it started to snow just before the fireworks in Venice on New Year’s Eve. Very pretty! And lots of fun walking home in the snow, I haven't walked around when it's snowing like that before.

3. And because no list would be complete without mentioning food, we ate lots of good food on the holiday like potato dumplings and Gluhwein and champagne and delicious French bread.

4. Going further back in time, we had some local work peeps around for drinks Christmas Eve, and my first attempt at cooking a steamed pudding (sticky toffee) in a bowl with greaseproof paper was a success

5. Our local freerange chicken farm did very well at Christmas – it was very festive queuing with people lining up to pick up their geese and turkeys and chickens. And there was a cheese seller halfway along the line that was doing well too – I helped out by buying some yummy cheddar in a black wax and some soft goats cheese (OK food has taken over my list once again. Seriously, I'm actually not that greedy)

6. A lot of the washing and tidying that is necessary after a holiday has been done, which makes me feel more organised for the start of a new work year

7. I’m enjoying a nice glass of French red wine I brought back from France and catching up on everyone’s best book lists of 2008, while planning my own list (I did mean to write it over the holiday but alas, the pizza and bread and so on defeated my good intentions).

More lists up at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast"!


I doubt I'll catch up with posts so please let me know if I've missed any significant events in your lives over the last week or so!

1. Various Christmas parties have included a 1920s themed one on Friday night. I liked my costume and made the discovery that in my black bob wig I look like my mum! Amazing what difference a fringe and the colour can make.

2. Other social (Christmas, birthday and engagement!) outings have given me the chance to try mulled wine again (sometimes I like it, other times not), find a great new Indian restaurant and discover I suck at real life bowling (as opposed to Wii bowling)

3. Our potted pine tree is inside and decorated and looks wonderful

4. Christmas cards from family and friends are decorating the shelves and presents are waiting under the tree – it seems even nicer when people have gone to the effort of posting them overseas

5. I have just finished baking dozens and dozens of Christmas cookies.

6. This one is cheating as it isn't from the last week, but hurrah for days getting longer soon!

7. Even amongst the Christmas busyness, or perhaps because of it, I’ve found time for some relaxing reading, the sort where you read large chunks of a book at a time laying on the couch under a warm throw rug

For more lists and some great illustrations head on over to Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

1. A flock of starlings put on an impressive aeronautical display over some warehouses yesterday evening
2. I visited the Scottish Highlands for a quick work event, and it was lovely (even if it snowed after I left AGAIN)
3. There was a cute secondhand bookshop in the railway station and in my spare few minutes I found three books to buy
4. I had fallen embarrassingly far behind on answering friend requests and messages on facebook. But today I sat down and went through them all, and now feel much more organised!
5. Lunch at a new (to me) pub yesterday – I had very yummy salmon fishcakes with potatoes, some green spinach-like veggie and hollandaise sauce. Yum!
6. Our microwave that broke ages ago was exchanged for a new one (it was under warranty). Even though we don’t use it much, it is handy for last minute steaming and defrosting and re-heating.
7. Tried two different types of sheep cheese this week and was impressed by both. Go sheep!

Some great artwork and more lists up at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

1. Last night we went to a Swiss friend’s place and gorged ourselves on raclette, which is cheese melted on a tabletop grill that we spread on potatoes and other things like gherkins (something I generally don’t like but can recommend with raclette!)
2. For dessert I made a maple and pecan layer cake that tasted great despite the top layer cracking into quarters while being iced!
3. We ordered some presents for our rellies in Australia that weren’t expensive but will be adored by all (no more details here in case any drop by...but if anyone is living away from their friends and family and want a great idea, email me!)
4. Yellow daisies on the table
5. I’ve found a pilates dvd I like that means I can exercise/relax at home (it’s too dark to walk home after the session at work now)
6. I can’t remember if I mentioned that my local library is shut for refurbishment until March, but the library in the town next to us is working out well. The librarians don’t know me and get my reserved books out as I come in the door but it’s still a good place :)
7. There was a huge storm in the part of Brisbane where my sisters and other peeps of interest live, but fortunately a flooded bedroom was the worst damage, all people and pets safe.

More lists up at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

1. Seeing the excitement in the US over the election (such long lines!) and the joy so many of my US friends felt at the result. I too feel relieved and hopeful!
2. The car had been playing up so went in for an early service, but it was something relatively inexpensive to fix. Phew!
3. A lovely walk taking photos of autumn trees yesterday
4. We went to the cinema last night, which is something I love to do but don’t make much time for anymore
5. Cooking experiment of this week were museli (aka granola) bars. They were slightly squishy but a valiant first attempt. Am unsure I actually saved any money by the time I finished adding in various dried fruits, but hey.
6. I got to go to the a meeting at the Houses of Parliament! It wasn’t anything high powered (in fact it turned out to be equally worthwhile for the wacky and entertaining people attending as for the content) but it was supremely cool going inside such a famous place for work!
7. After all this time we finally checked out a nearby Asian supermarket, and found lots of goodies including sauces and pastes and even those cute yummy chocolate koala biscuits from Japan!

More lists up at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

1. We FINALLY got around to sticking some enlargements of photos (generally pretty ones from Australia and elsewhere) in frames and up on the walls, which is a relatively inexpensive way of decorating. They look great!

2. Some friends came over for dinner last night, and we had a fun time. My chocolate mousse was yummy (I was worried as I’d never made it before) and I found out that a workmate is fantasy/SF fan who’s never seen Firefly or read some of my favourite authors. NEW VICTIM!

3. Leftovers for dinner tonight

4. Lots of stimulating discussions at conferences in the last few weeks.

5. I’m around this whole week, hopefully I’ll get lots of lovely autumn lunchtime walks

6. I volunteered at our member’s day at work and it was fun meeting people and talking about what we do. The two ladies I sat next to at lunch were 88 and 90, and one of them had lived in Westminster her whole life, so they had great stories to tell.

7. A twilight walk was rewarded with a close up sight of some pipstrelle bats (those cute little ones).

More lists up at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

1. I actually got around to going out to Wimbledon to apply for my UK driving license (if you’re from non-EU and don’t want to consign your passport and visa to the depths of British bureaucracy for months you have to go to one four locations in the UK between 9-5 Mon – Fri so it wasn’t complete laziness that had me delaying). It’ll take another 3-4 weeks to arrive, but at least I’ve actually applied
2. Had a better time on a short work trip to Brussels than I had anticipated and made it back on the train I had hoped to. Phew!
3. I read the books on this 2 day trip quicker than planned AGAIN (am obviously losing my book judging skills) but fortunately had remembered to stick a West Wing dvd in my laptop so was entertained for all trains etc.
4. Sleeping in both days this weekend
5. Last night we went to a country pub that is famous for its good local meals (mine was risotto made with squash from their garden and sticky toffee pudding)
6. We went brambling (ie picking blackberries) yesterday and I made blackberry cupcakes today
7. We ate the cupcakes with a thermos of coffee in the park at Ickworth House this afternoon – a great way to finish the weekend.

Some great illustrations and more lists up at Seven impossible things before breakfast!

1. Two birthday presents organised and sent BEFORE the actual dates rolled around in Australia.
2. Just when I was thinking all warm weather was over it’s been a sunny weekend, like a bit of summer gone astray.
3. Having said that, autumn is nice too. The changing leaves, the wide range of weird fungi and the new wildflowers and berries everywhere are cheering up my walk to work.
4. After a series of delays we finally caught up with a friend from New Zealand in London last night. Very strange going out at night time with other people, and staying up late! (Although a big advantage of hanging around home is the lack of drunk people lurching around).
5. I went to the shops and took pictures of myself trying on different dresses so I will not be completely hopeless when I see the dressmaker with the material for my bridesmaid dress for my sister’s wedding next year. (I just hope the people in the other cubicles didn’t hear my mobile making photo noises and think I was really weird/vain).
6. I just got back from a bike ride along a country lane where I pigged out on blackberries. Yum!
7. I also just ate some yummy Lincolnshire “poacher” cheese. Sure I can’t find much decent bread over here but the British make some great hard cheeses.

1. We just returned from a lovely 8 days traipsing around Switzerland and Paris. A photo post will be forthcoming, but highlights included hiking in the mountains, fondue, impressionist masterpieces and a marmot.
2. After the first day the weather was lovely. It was so sunny in the Alps I got to wear sunscreen and a hat!
3. SO MUCH yummy bread and cheese
4. I ran out of books to read on my holiday (mostly because I read Sherwood Smith’s long King’s shield much faster than I expected). But luckily I got some English books in Paris, one from one of those cute bookseller stalls next to the Seine and a couple of others from the wonderful Shakespeare and Company.
5. There was a fire in one of the eurostar channel tunnels on Thursday night (luckily no one hurt, it was a truck that caught on fire) which seriously disrupted services for the next couple of days. Fortunately we only had to leave an hour or so early on Saturday afternoon and didn’t even get home much later than expected.
6. Although it was nice to see our houseguests, it’s also good to have our house to ourselves again!
7. I just ordered some prints of photos that I’ve been procrastinating about for ages.

More lists and great artwork up at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

1. Today we went to Oxford and had a great time wandering around looking at lovely old buildings (highlight: Merton college’s old library – there were pew-like shelves with desks attached from the 16th century!).
2. Despite steady rain in the morning, the weather turned fine once we got to Oxford – I think I’ll have some great piccies, shall share at some stage!
3. I have been on an ebay shopping binge. It started when I had trouble finding older British books like Sayers in charity shops that I knew should be pretty common over here, and soon turned into multiple parcels of books.
4. And an Amazon parcel of books has been dispatched a couple of weeks early due to the early release of Brust’s Jhegaala (I’d accidentally put them all in one package) so I’ll be happily drowning in books soon.
5. I bought a basket for my newly serviced bicycle
6. It’s a long weekend here – current plans for tomorrow include sleeping in.
7. I’m just about to go take a homemade pizza out of the oven

More lists up as usual at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

1. David Attenborough talk, of course.
2. I wasn’t overly impressed with a new choc-chip pecan cookie recipe I tried out but everyone enjoyed them! I guess you can’t go too wrong with chocolates and pecans.
3. Lots of chores done like dropping my lovely bicycle off for a service (it’s been making grindy sounds when I change gears, eek).
4. New winter pansies have brightened up the backyard. Speaking of which, a rogue pansy has joined the sunflower in the gravel – my not weeding is justified in spades!
5. I have spent the week organising a holiday in September, and have found some affordable places to stay and some great places to visit! (well I think I have, wait until my kicks in September and we’ll see!). It was tiring but fun, sometimes I think I am a frustrated travel agent at heart.
6. I have been missing drinking sparkling wine with my sisters, so bought a mini bottle for myself and enjoyed it with fruit and cheese and crackers in the backyard this afternoon.
7. We have house guests arriving tomorrow and the house is looking very neat!

1. On the one year anniversary of arriving in the UK we went out badger watching with a group of people from work, and saw 6 badgers! They were very cute, smaller than I had expected but lovely and stripey. A real treat!
2. Other animals seen from the hide included a muntjac deer with little horns (I think I’ve mostly seen little females before this) and foxes (I’ve never seen them as more than a glimpse running behind a bush before)
3. Today we visited the British museum, just for fun. I don’t think it’s possible to get tired of the British Museum.
4. Also in London I bought the most frivolous shoes of my life. They are a lovely green that are slightly mottled. I think they look like dragon skin. I justified it with birthday money and the fact they are also well-made and comfortable, but really, I just loved them.
5. As well as my potted plants I let interesting looking weeds take root in my yard, just to brighten up the paving-gravel dullness of it, and one has turned out to be a lovely sunflower!
6. I finally got around to visiting an optometrist, and he seems good. And my eyes are healthy, yay!
7. Despite homesickness I have really enjoyed my first year here.

More lists up at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

1. My nan recently had pneumonia, but fortunately she was treated quickly and is now resting up with my mum and aunts. We had a long conversation this morning, which was very reassuring.
2. We have had a run of warm, sunny days. It is amazing how much more cheerful I feel when it’s warm, I’m definitely cut out for living in warm climates.
3. I had a great birthday, with breakfast in bed, lovely phone calls from family (my sisters and mum took the opportunity to make a cake and drink champagne on my behalf in Brisbane) and a dinner in a local restaurant
4. Birthday presents included books and vouchers for more books!
5. My carrot cake turned out well and everyone gobbled it down at work
6. My team at work went camping for the night before a planning day and had a fantastic time.
7. Not only did we see lots of birds, I saw hedgehogs for the first time! Two adults cutely snuffling around our campsite!

Lovely art and lists are up at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

1. The nicest thing this week was a lovely care package from checkers65477! Checkers had kindly agreed to forward on some mascara I was buying for my sister, and included lots of yummy goodies such as spices for meat, instant grits (for other similarly clueless people this sounds like a polenta-ish food, haven’t tried it yet!), jumbo bags of m&ms and a book by James Thurber. Such a wonderful treat!
2. Puffins! Yesterday we visited Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire and saw some puffins and other seabirds (such as gannets, razorbills and shags) up close! Puffins are even cuter than I was expecting.
3. Then we headed off on a puffin boat trip. The sea got quite rough (as in waves started breaking over those of us braving the “bracing” breeze on deck) so we didn’t get around under the cliffs but still saw lots of birds at flight and diving for fish. Puffins are very cute flying but gannets are gorgeous.
4. My work’s “summer BBQ” was on Friday night. It was raining and cold but fun nonetheless. I thought the sight of people wearing waterproof jackets and huddling under umbrellas at a BBQ was so funny I took photos.
5. I won a box of chocolates in the lucky door competition!
6. My sister has bought the material for our bridesmaid dresses next year, and it sounds lovely! It will arrive via a relative in September and I’ll get it made up sometime after that (in whatever style I want… eek, any suggestions?)
7. I forgot to say in my list last week that we finally received our food waste bin! Now we get food waste collected every week that will be turned into electricity and compost. We even got kitchen caddies and biodegradable liners too!

More lists up at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

1. I just went clothes shopping (imagine me making that groan of Sideshow Bob’s) and found a pair of grey trousers that fit! As in, not only does the top bit fit but the length is correct! I could wear them right now if I wanted to! I am not sure this has ever happened to me before.
2. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it but when I moved here I decided to match everyone else and buy a waterproof jacket. It is great fun walking around in the rain with the hood up! (It only works in lightish rain though. When it rains properly your bag and legs just get too wet.)
3. I’m in the office enough at the moment that I’ve been able to start pilates classes again this week – it felt great to stretch.
4. Yesterday evening we took advantage of the long summer evening to ride across the common to the next town for dinner and then rode back again
5. I have caught up on some long overdue emails which means I can stop mentally wincing whenever I think about one of the recipients
6. We bought a wok! Can’t believe we lived without one for so long.
7. Cherries are in season. Mmmmmm.

More lists up at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

1. I was feeling all mopey and homesick on Friday until I received an unexpected parcel of books from the wonderful lady_schrapnell!
2. I bought a cute red blouse with a red ribbon around the middle. Seeing as it has short sleeves I don’t know how much I’ll get to wear it, but still, cute!
3. Yesterday we watched a parade out of our windows. It consisted of the local firetruck, and the local primary school children dressed up as characters from musicals – very cute!
4. A surplus of bananas and strawberries has meant lots of yummy smoothies this week.
5. A scary meeting for work went a lot better than I had feared.
6. Today was the first sunny and warm (ish) day in a while so I decided to see how hard it was to ride to work. Despite my continuing ineptness with things like gears, it was great fun! And I did not slip down inside the cattle grids like I had feared :)
7. I made it to the nursery in time to buy some “picking lettuce” seeds. It’s too windy to sow such fine seeds today, but I hope to be talking about my yummy fresh lettuce here in a month or so!

More lists up at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

I'm coming in for a late night entry - our guests are back so I haven't read other people's entries. I will catch up over the next few days. Also, feel free to poke me if I haven't written more about Green Knowe or at least a book of some description!


1. I saw a crane (albeit from a distance) at a nature reserve in Yorkshire this week! These birds are very rare in the UK, so this was a treat.
2. I found out that cuckoos over here sound like cuckoo clocks! Luckily I figured this out in my own head before asking if anyone else could here the clock.
3. Our visitors are back with us so we visited Norfolk over the weekend. It was chilly but still interesting to see a new part of the country. I loved the houses with sea stones all over the outside of them. I haven’t uploaded any pics yet but they can be seen in a blurry fashion here.
4. We visited a 17th century country house, Blickling Hall. It had a long gallery full of rare books (unfortunately they weren’t open on display, but they still looked lovely) and great gardens that included woodland walks. Also, there was a cool display in the old kitchens with voice recordings from servants who worked there in the 1930s.
5. I got to eat fresh crab, which I’ve been missing.
6. Today I bought asparagus and strawberries that had just been picked from the farm, and they made part of a yummy dinner and dessert.
7. And following the local produce theme, I had a great chicken and asparagus pie for lunch at a pub so old that many people were in danger of hitting their heads on the ceiling (ha, the advantages of being short).

1. Yesterday we had a very flat tyre, but after bidding a sad farewell in our minds to some money that was supposed to be banked, we found out that the garage could repair the tyre for a very cheap price. Yay!
2. After dinner last night I remembered that we’d brought back some handmade chocolates from Bruges.
3. I was about to uproot what I thought were daffodils that had come up far too early (during winter) when I spotted a beautiful iris bud amongst the dying foliage – I had forgotten that was what I had planted! A nice surprise.
4. This is a mixed kick: annoying work that feels good to get done. I’ve finally had some time this weekend to start work on responding to thesis comments again – there’s not much to actually change so it’s frustrating that I haven’t done it!
5. The other thing I’ve enjoyed on this weekend at home is sleeping in + naps
6. It’s a long weekend this weekend! Tomorrow is another day off, hurrah!

Despite number 5, I’m too tired to make it to 7 kicks, but I’ll excuse myself as I had 8 last week.

As always, more lists up at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

April is shaping up to be as mad as March for me, so posts will probably be light on the ground. I am still planning a Spain post, though! And I've been reading lots of interesting books so I will endeavour to write about them too.


1. Despite the snow last weekend (WHICH I MISSED! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT SNOWED WITHOUT ME) I know spring has officially arrived in my town. I know this because the old men are back on their seats. When we arrived late last summer we discovered that a favourite pastime for old men of the town is to sit on seats in the main street and watch people go by, and today they returned!
2. Speaking of spring, we went on a container and seed buying frenzy and now I am planning out pots and hoping for lots of lovely flowers in summer.
3. Also spring-like are the number of babies that are being born. This includes the baby my cousin just had this weekend!
4. I not only survived but enjoyed some training I did at work this week that included the scary task of having to practice a meeting with a roleplay actor and have it filmed so we could all critique it! (In case it sounds like it was just me, we did it in small groups, but it was still scary!)
5. Lots of simple but easily put off household chores were accomplished today (like clearing out empty cardboard boxes from a handy space behind the couch/under the stairs).
6. We did a super efficient shop yesterday where we ended up getting everything on our list, including some preparations for visitors in a couple of weeks.
7. Our council has announced we are all getting kitchen caddies and compost bins that they will collect every week for recycling. For someone without a garden that could use up compost, this is exciting news!

For more lists head on over to Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!

It has been a really busy week, hence the lack of book posts (although there has been book reading, of course). I was tempted to skip my list this week because at first all I could remember were the busy and stressful moments. Plus it looks so lame to have two happiness lists in a row reminding me that I didn't post all week! But I like the tradition so here are seven nice things about the week:


1. After a work trip to Brussels in which very little was fun, I was cheered by eating a hot waffle with chocolate sauce at the train station. Yum!

2. The train home ran very late but a young couple in line near me were really interesting people who made the time seem like fun rather than utterly annoying. This is now the second time in recent memory that talking to people near me has turned out to be positive rather than a very regrettable mistake!

3. I gave a lecture to a very large group of students, many of whom still managed to overcome the whole lecture theatre atmosphere and ask interesting questions.

4. We had found out a few weeks ago that we weren’t actually the registered owners of our car, which was obviously not a good thing to find out. But now it’s all sorted! Phew!

5. To celebrate legally owning the car we went for a drive to England’s oldest pub (I should note that there are several of these “oldest” pubs scattered across England) in Cambridgeshire yesterday and had a nice lunch

6. On the way home we visited a new local farm store and bought a free range chicken that is roasting in the oven right now, and some very local honey (apparently this is supposed to help with hayfever. I say why not try out such a yummy solution?).

7. To go along with the other spring flowers I’ve been enjoying, there are also pretty pink flowered trees (cherry?) and white flowered Hawthorne (possibly?) hedges and trees everywhere.

As usual, more lists are up at the wonderful Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

1. Well, obviously getting my thesis examiner reports and finding out I don't have too much to do was a highlight of the week
2. On Friday night we went into Cambridge for a Life in cold blood evening - the highlight was a talk from the producer and researcher of the show that had gave a look behind the scenes. It was very interesting to hear about how everyone pitched in to get ideas of what to film, and the best way of getting the shot (answer: patience). As the talk was at the Museum of Zoology, we got to wander around afterwards with wine and nibblies looking at animal skeletons - geeky fun!
3. My slow progression to a reasonable wardrobe continued with the purchase of new jeans. So boring and dispiriting to try pair after pair on but worthwhile when I found some!
4. I also bought other stuff I'd been procrastinating over, like a new type of shampoo and a brush
5. Our office at work is a lot cleaner after we made an effort to actually throw stuff out and pick stuff up off the floor!
6. The first of my daffodils in pots in the yard came out - beautiful!
7. I have spent all day at home in my bummy clothes

If you want to see some amazing illustrations and more lists, head on over to Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

1. The apology that you all heard me go on about this week.

2. The lovely lady_schrapnell lent me the two recent Connie Willis novellas. There is nothing nicer than coming home to a parcel containing books!

3. Our boiler (which gives us hot water and heating) went on the blink this morning. Faced with a technical helpline that only opens Mon-Fri (because who need advice on weekends?) and a guidance manual that told us the problem was low water pressure and to simply increase the water pressure, we thought we were in for days of no showers and a cold house. Luckily we figured out that if you take the bottom off the boiler and turn two levers on at the same time, water topped up the boiler. Yay! Still feel this could have been in the guidance book though.

4. We went to a housewarming cocktail party last night. Yes! An actual social event! There was great conversation, yummy cocktails and I even survived the walk to the train in sub-zero temperatures.

5. Plus I met some new people at a work lunch this week. It was fun hanging out with a bunch of women my age (even if they were all seemed obsessed with Valentine’s Day. I knew it was a big deal in the US, but it’s also more recognised here in the UK than in Australia).

6. There was a booksale raising money for an orang-utan foundation at work this week. I took in some books and came home with a pile more. You didn’t want me to ignore the needs of the orang-utans, did you?

7. I’m just about to go eat a nice dinner and then watch Veronica Mars. The perfect evening!

1. I made myself go out of my way to try on yet more shoes in London, and found black work shoes! Because I have strange sized feet and want good shoes I can walk everywhere in this is not an easy feat!
2. And, more embarrassingly, I actually bothered to get out of my layers of clothes and try and buy on new underwear this weekend
3. There have been beautiful clear days this week and I’ve been happily soaking up the sun
4. The crocuses are coming out in my pots and they look beautiful! Sorry for judging you as boring skinny little flowers when grown in pots, crocuses!
5. I made a batch of chocolate brownies this afternoon
6. And there’s an eggplant, tomato potato concoction in the oven now
7. I’ve made sure I’ve had time for reading books as well as websites recently, which has been great

And, of course, you can visit Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast for most lists!

1. I recently found out I had too many holidays owed to me so was forced to take Monday off and book in two more long weekends in Feb :)
2. After missing Dad's birthday I made up for by finding him the perfect present
3. After all that panicking about running out of books to read I have a long list of books on hold at the library/written down in a to-buy list
4. We got out our ordnance survey map (these are really really detailed maps with public footpaths and things marked on them, very English and cool) and explored some embarrassingly near walks. (The sort of walk where you turn around and go: hey look, there’s our house!) Good news is I now feel a lot more familiar with my new home.
5. We went for a snowdrop walk yesterday in the woods at an old manor house, and it was wonderful. Snowdrops are my new favourite flower.
6. And not to sound like the English flower report, but now the daffodils are coming out! This is early but still very nice. They join the first bulb that flowered in my pot plants, a dwarf iris!
7. I just hopped out a hot bath so am feeling very relaxed.

Lots more lists are up over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast