Me on a Monday

It was a "let's start early" kind of weekend with a day off work on Friday for both of us.  We headed to John Lewis and an out of town M&S to make a dent in the Christmas shopping.  Whilst out Tony bumped into this fellow...

Then it was a stuck in horrible traffic kind of afternoon which meant it was a mad dash to get out Friday evening for our festive meal together.  21 out of the 24 of us made it out all together - all but one couple have a boy in Year 10 and we've been friends since we met in the primary playground. The other couples' connection is Year 12 with a couple of us.  I thank my lucky stars I have such an amazing group of friends on my doorstep.  When I first moved up here to move in with Tony I knew nobody and felt quite lonely.  Those days are long gone!

It was a working Saturday morning (with a little sore head!) but it was over by 1pm and then it was errands and little jobs, home to sit on the sofa and comfort Alex as she had a tummy bug (and an excuse to catch up on I'm a Celeb!) and then a chill out in front of Strictly evening.

Sunday dawned and it was a 7am start kind of day!  I was picked up at 8am to go Kirsty's Handmade Christmas Fair in Manchester.

There were beautiful crocheted snowflakes...

There were beautiful wood shapes to cover and decorate (I may have bought a few!)...

There were beautiful hand crafted items for sale - I love this quote...

We did a couple of workshops - Napkins painted with Annie Sloan paint and Folk Art.  This was my effort and I loved it so much I bought a kit...

We watched a "wreath off" with a couple of designers which gave us some great inspiration (I'm definitely adding fairy lights to mine this year) and we saw Matt Chapple from the Great British Sewing Bee and had a lovely chat with his wife about how their life had changed since he won.  Then it was time to rest our weary shopping feet with a little pick me up...

...when we were rudely interrupted by a woman asking us if we'd like to attend the last demonstration on stage with Betty's cookery school and Kirsty on stage.  Well we'd been spotting her all day in the distance talking to stall holders and walking through the event so thought this would be a better chance to see her so we were up and off before you could say Christmas Craft.  The demo was brilliant and we even got a taste of the Christmas Pud at the end which was delicious.  I also managed to stop Kirsty and have a little chat, she asked me to come round the back of the stage as I enthused about the show and what was great and what was missing.  She seemed so keen to listen and was really lovely.  Of course we had to have the obligatory photo...

Then it was a head home kind of evening to roast lamb, the Strictly result and more jungle shenanigans accompanied by a bit of knitting.  Inspired by my visit to the show I picked up my needles again and have started knitting a few hats for Innocent Smoothies to raise money for Age Concern together with Alex.  I've started with the beginners to get back in to it but I'm keen to have a go at the sheep!  More info on the Big Knit here.

So Monday found me very tired and back at my desk but looking forward to a four day week with another Friday off - yay!

Have a great week and join all the other Me on a Mondayers ((waves)) over at Sian's place.