"What did I do wrong?!"

...wailed my minimalist, modern design loving father when I brought this kitsch beauty home (carnations added by me - but I think they complete the look, no?). It seems opinion is a little split on my latest charity shop purchase...

***

But, if you are, like me, on the enamoured side of the fence, I've just spotted that Leona has a couple going in her fabulous shop (here and here).

Cambridge: Colleges and Crocuses

Lovelies, I am so behind in the blog world. On reading, on posting. I am on a fortnight cover placement for work, loving it, but much busier. So, this post is about two weekends ago, the last one in February, not the one just gone.

Cambridge with the family for my grandma's birthday weekend. A hotel with soft double beds, fluffy white dressing gowns and a feast of a breakfast. Roses, freesias, carrot cupcakes. Never Let Me Go at the Arts Picturehouse, S and I, as the final credits rolled, tears streaming down our faces, laughing at our silliness. Thai for dinner, the car headlights glinting across the other side of Parker's Piece. Charity shop whizz rounds and vintage clothes shopping. Catching up with still studying (medic) friends. A walk on The Backs Sunday morning, sky blue, sun bright, air cold. Crocuses, catkins, the river. Back via the market, flowers wrapped in brown paper.

Feeling homesick as I walked back to the train station, weekend over, homesick for a place that hasn't been my home for over two years now.

A Weekend Away

Last weekend as well as the mist, the fireworks, the sparklers, there was also Norwich with my sister, S. The Union bar on Friday night, an open mic night, student bands. Posters for Wednesday's top up fees march. Pints of cider, Snakebite. Nothing like a night out with 20 year olds to make 24 seem old. Sleeping late on Saturday. Wandering into town, exploring the lanes, lots of wonderful vintage shops, charity shops, independent cafes. Hot chocolates with marshmallows, Welsh rarebit, banana cake. Buying intentionally kitsch flowers at the market. Having a much needed catch up with S, walking, talking. Roses in the bathtub, strings of butterflies.

Hectic

Oh things have been hectic round here. I seem to be either working the late shift or else out catching up with friends before we all disappear into a string of office parties. I have four this year - crazy I know but it's something to do with being part of a small unit that is part of a slightly larger team that is part of a bigger department...I also was also just informed today that instead of doing something sensible like a Secret Santa, everyone in my office apparently buys everyone else presents, something I was not aware of having only been in this job since May. There are only five of us in my immediate team admittedly, but that is four more people onto a present list that I am only vaguely on top of as it is.

I tried to do some Christmas shopping on Saturday when myself and a couple of friends returned to our beloved Cambridge for the day, but it turned into a saunter round the charity shops (very fruitful - but only if, like me, you are in the market for retro, bow-tie wearing, china zebra ornaments, old sets of scrabble or framed cross-stitch pictures depicting thatched cottages) followed by lunch with more friends who are still studying in the city, followed by an unplanned diversion into a church Christmas fete (again, plenty of brilliant finds for us all; vintage Laura Ashley suits, floral cotton dressing gowns, illustrated secondhand wildlife books, even the odd raffle ticket, but nothing that would constitute as an actual gift for a family member or respected colleague per se - though I would love to see my modern-design-loving father's face as he unwrapped a kitsch, Bambi lookalike, china zebra).

This weekend is going to be a mad baking session in preparation for Sunday's WI fete, flyering for the fete at Saturday's Bust Craftacular, with a friend's Christmas party on the Saturday night thrown in for good measure. Yikes.

There are a million and one things I want to post about but haven't had time to yet, including the amazing Wildlife Photographer Awards that I went to see a couple of Fridays ago with Anna during a late night opening of the Natural History museum, and the film 'An Education' that I saw even longer ago. Two weekends ago I was able to sit down with a mug of hot spiced berry cordial with a dash of port, light a few candles and flick through the many postcards I'd bought at the exhibition (see photo above), this weekend I was too busy even to pick up my camera.

I am looking forward to going home for Christmas in two weeks' time, to having time to sit down with a good book or favorite film, to pottering around the kitchen and filling the house with the smell of orange and cinnamon.

In the meantime though I am secretly enjoying the packed-fullness of this time of year, the squeezing in of people and parties and present buying around the day job, making purchases on etsy and Amazon in the lunchbreak and then dashing to the toilets for a flick of mascara and a change of shoes at the end of the day.

At this rate my colleagues may find themselves with only a box of Quality Street and a smile to send them on their way this Christmas.

Oxford Charity Shops

As promised, photos of my charity shop finds from last weekend in Oxford. From top to bottom: fox shaped salt and pepper shakers (couldn't resist, loving all things fox-related since Fantastic Mr Fox!); a dinosaur mug (for the geek within me); a rose patterned china dish (to add to the ever growing collection of old crockery); a 1953 Coronation mug (I'd been totally inspired by the Liberty's Christmas windows, then on Monday read this post and realised it wasn't just me). I also picked up Ladybird book on honeybees. A pretty good haul all in all.

Monday, Monday

Some chocolate cupcakes to cheer up this dark Monday evening. I baked them two weekends ago but as I haven't baked anything in the past week I thought I'd share. Hummingbird Bakery recipe again - if you don't have the book already, stick it on your Christmas wish list!

(And Alex, very keen to show you my charity shop purchases too - will share them as soon as I am next home in some daylight and can take photos!)

Orpington finds

'The Sound of Music' soundtrack on vinyl. Haven't played it yet, but it doesn't look scratched...not that I'll mind too much if it is, it was worth the purchase for the cheerful cover alone, complete with buttercup scattered meadow and gambolling Von Trapps.

A Persephone Classic that I don't think has even been read, 'Someone at a Distance' by Dorothy Whipple. Not sure whether it will be any good, but I have read many wonderful things about all the carefully chosen Persephone books so will give it a try. I am also, much as I try to resist, a sucker for packaging, and I love both the elegant grey and the individually selected endpapers that all the Persephone books feature.

Past Finds - Part II

Some more old charity shop finds - although I did raid the charity shops of Orpington when visiting a friend on Saturday, so have some new finds to post about soon. Above is a favourite item of mine, a little glass oval box with a rabbit on the lid. It was 20p from the Salvation Army, quite a bargain I think. It is probably meant for trinkets or rings, to sit on a dressing table, but after giving it a thorough wash out I use it as a tiny butter pot for the breakfast table - it will be even better when Easter comes round.

Below are my vintage champagne and Babycham glasses, which buy whenever I can as I lose them at a rate of about two breakages per cocktail party! 'Buy whenever I can' is actually a bit of an exaggeration - as with most things, I will only buy them if the price is right. There were six Babycham glasses (with the deer on) in Cancer Research in Orpington on Saturday, but £3 each was far more than I was willing to pay.

Past Finds - Part I

I seem not to have been doing very well on visiting charity shops, car-boot sales and auctions recently (Deptford market from last weekend aside). Mainly I think because I have spent the last few weekends in London, and I never seem to be able to find as many bargains in the capital. I find myself wandering round Spitalfields or Portobello admiring lots and lots of the vintage brooches and floral teacups, but resisting buying them as I know that sooner or later, if I am patient, I will find something very similar in one of my out-of-London charity shop trawls, and for a fraction of the price.

The town where my family live in Norfolk is excellent on the charity shop front, and also boasts a weekly auction where my sister currently works. I also always found Cambridge pretty good, and spent many a Saturday morning in the last year browsing the charity shops whilst M battled through Physics exercises in the library (I had graduated at this point, M, on his four year degree course compared to my three, had not).

So, in an effort to prove that my home is populated by many a second-hand item, and in the spirit of celebrating what I already own rather than going out and buying more STUFF (of which I have far too much), here are a few of my favourites....

A trio of gold birds that hang on the wall in the style of those old-school flying ducks, from a Norfolk charity shop.

One of my larger buys; an old nursing chair bought in auction for £12. It was originally covered in a faded green velvet, rather worn, with awful fluffy binding like a giant caterpillar. It's a shame I don't have any 'before' images. Anyway, I loved the shape, and the detailing at the top of the legs, so put in a bid for it with the intention of having it re-upholstered. The fabric was from a remnant roll in a sale and only cost a tenner, and the re-upholstering was about £50. Not my cheapest ever buy, but it is completely unique and I reckon it still cost less than a basic Ikea armchair. It sits in the corner of my bedroom for me to throw discarded items of clothing onto, or for friends to perch on for a quick chat whilst I finish getting ready, and I love it.


I have lots and lots of second-hand china that I have collected over the years from charity shops, boot sales and hand-me-downs from friends and relatives. These are just a few of the more recent pieces (aside from the stacked rose teacups in the bottom right-hand corner which are part of the very first rose-patterned tea set I ever bought). I think I will go on and on collecting this sort of thing, and then one day have a huge mismatched tea party for everyone I know.

(and thanks to Seeds and Stitches and I will Make Do and Mend for giving me the idea of a 'home shopping' post)

Airstream Dreams

I found the Vintage Vacations website via Lynne at Tea for Joy and now I am dreaming of a holiday in a 1950s (or 60s) Airstream trailer. Don't these look lovely? They are located on the Isle of Wight which makes them even more appealing - I have wanted to go there for ages and have heard wonderful things about the island's charity shops. M however is less keen...cramming his 6'5" frame into an aluminium box for a week doesn't fill him with much enthusiasm. I think I shall have to persuade a slightly shorter friend instead...