The Luxury of Free Time at Last - W/E 5th July 2025 - Part 2

Towards the end of this week, I've finally found myself with a bit of free time on my hands and it has been wonderful. I am having to work every evening, but I get the mornings and a couple of hours in the afternoon, to do as I please, which feels like a luxury to me.

On Thursday morning, I got up and did some more sewing. I started some more clothing alterations by hand, gradually working my way through quite a big pile of things that I'd set aside to work on when I had the time. 

LB spent the day re-organising her bedroom and starting to unpack some of her things. It's a bit messy in there at the moment, but I'm sure she'll get it how she wants it eventually. I think we're going to need a tip run in the near future to get rid of some of the things she no longer wants to keep, which does include some furniture that she's had since she was at school, but which we can now let go of.

Work was busy on Thursday night. More people have left or are leaving. It's quite a transitional time there at the moment, so more recruitment is in the pipeline. As a consequence, I've got a lot of hours over the next couple of weeks, but at least when I'm not at work, my time is my own to do as I please.

On Friday, OH set off on his bike with a few friends, to cycle up north and visit his mum and brother who is now being looked after at home. He's still got a lot of health problems, but at least he is back in his own home, which is something. I spent Friday morning and part of the afternoon working on more clothing alterations. The pile is slowly going down and the sewing room is gradually getting tidier and more organised. I've made a separate post about the alterations I've been doing.

Work was steady tonight, but passed quite quickly, so wasn't too bad. I fell into bed exhausted at 11.30pm which was early for me after work, as I normally need at least a couple of hours before I feel ready go to bed, which tends to be no earlier than midnight.

I was up early on Saturday morning to go to the free gym session. I got an email this week telling me that it will not be running in the current venue from September due to a refurbishment of the building. I'm waiting to hear where they move it to and will soon be looking for a new gym for the next 3 years. I may have to go back to havimg a monthly membership somewhere. I would preferably like to go somewhere within 15/20 walking distance.

Thankfully, the weather was a lot cooler on Saturday. It felt like respite from the heat. When I got home, I pottered around watering the indoor plants. I haven't been a very good plant mum lately, but they seem to be surviving my neglect. I then watered outside in the garden and did a bit of pruning and tidying up before lunch.

After lunch, it was the turn of the allotment. Although we had a miniscule shower of rain, it wasn't enough, so I headed over and picked some more gooseberries, lettuce, blackcurrants and cucumbers and gave it all a good soak, which should be enough until OH comes home on Sunday. We had a site inspection this week and had to clear the paths of weeds, but it sounds like it went okay.

By the time I'd finished at the allotment, it was time to shower and get ready for work. LB was heading out to a club in the evening, so I wasn't expecting to see her until sunrise or the following day, as she was possibly going to stay at a friend's house.

I was working on a different section from usual at work, which although it's not my favourite, made  a change from where I've been working lately. It was super busy for most of the evening, so the time passed pretty quickly. Then it went a bit quiet, so there was plenty of time to tidy up and we all got away half an hour early, which was good.

A positive end to a slighly less busy week for once.

Monthly Clothing Purchases - June 2025

I'm afraid it's a long one this month. I got off to an early start in terms of buying clothes, when I ordered this dress on Vinted, that was being sold by someone that I follow on YouTube. 

It cost £5.70 including postage, which was very reasonable. Although I like the fact that it is leopard print, I'm not entirely sure that I will wear it as a dress. I may just use it as a night dress or to wear around the pool or on the beach on holiday, as I'm not sure it's really my style. A bit of a fashion fail to begin with, but not an expensive one.

I then visited my favourite out of town charity shop during the first week of the month and came away with the following few items:

This floral sleeveless top came home with me, as I thought it was very pretty. I think it is made of viscose and cost £2.

I bought this classic navy linen/cotton top for £3, which I intend to shorten a little. Excuse how crumpled it looks, I took it out of the ironing basket to take this photo.

This black and white ditsy print dress was probably my favourite purchase. It's fairly flattering on and I've worn it a couple of times already. It's nice and floaty and cool for the summer and is made of viscose. It cost £5.

Finally, I bought this linen dress. It isn't really my style, but my intention is to cut it down to make a skirt. I like the colour and print and the fact that it is linen, I just don't like the top half of it. It also cost £5, which I think is very reasonable for a linen dress.

 

I did buy one item from where I work this week, namely this gym top for £8. I really like the colour and the sleeveless style. It is a little sng around my midriff, which isn't yet honed, but I'm hoping to get good use out of it.

My final clothing purchases from charity shops this month were the following items:

First, was this Miss Selfridge sundress. It is a lovely print, but I didn't like this as a dress on me, as it wasn't too flattering at the back, it seemed to create a shelf around my backside. As a consequence, I intended to make it into a skirt, but when LB came home, I showed it to her and she liked it, so she is going to keep it and wear it as a skirt. This cost £5, but is made of cotton, making it good value.

Second, was this 100% cotton top. This is quite a thick cheesecloth like cotton fabric, but I liked the style of the neckline. I have significantly shortened what where crazily long and voluptuous tiered sleeves, which were a bit too impractical and dramatic for me and I may yet shorten it a few inches as it is quite long. This cost £3, which is good value for cotton and I can see myself wearing this with lots of skirts and trousers in my wardrobe on cooler days. It could also be worn for work too.

I also bought this black longsleeved cotton t-shirt. I wear these kind of tops a lot in the autumn/winter, as they are great layering pieces. This one had a pretty flower/plant print, was new with tags from M&S and was cotton. I'll look forward to wearing it the autumn/winter. It cost £3.

Next, I bought this pair of grey pinstriped cotton summer trousers for £3. They are nice and loose and light for wearing in the summer months. They do look a bit like pyjama bottoms, but I don't mind that. I may do my favourite thing of elasticating the bottoms as I find this style more flattering and wearable, but I haven't decided yet.

This pretty cotton shirt went quite nicely with the trousers above. It is 100% cotton with a paisley print and a ruffled sleeveless design. At just £3, it was not a difficult decision to bring it home with me.

Finally, I bought this Linen/Cotton mix button down skirt for £2. It was a much bigger size than I wear, but I have taken a big chunk out of it at the back, creating a new seam to reduce it in size. I like this button down style and it has pockets too, what's not to love. 

For £19, I think I did okay on this particular visit, as I got some great pieces made from more natural fabrics for an absolute steal. In total though, I spent £52.20 this month, which is a little less than I've spent in recent months, but I did get a lot of items of arguably better quality, so I'm very happy with what I bought.

As always, I'm hoping to buy less next month, but I'm sure I've said this before and then gone on to spend the same or more money on clothes.

 

Finally Seeing The Light at the End - W/E 5th July 2025 - Part 1

This week was a week of finally seeing the light at the end of what feels like a long tunnel, but which has only been a couple of months in reality. They've been an intense couple of months though, that's all I can say. On Sunday, I wasn't working for the first time in weeks. I got up and did some financial stuff, as it was virtually the end of the month. I then did some laundry and went out to do the weekly shop locally. I had a voucher for 10% off to use at Lidl and as we were going to collect all of LB's stuff from her flat on Monday, I wouldn't be able to do my weekly shop then, so it had to be done a day earlier.

By the time I got home and unpacked the shopping, it was lunchtime, so I had some lunch, did the washing up, hung out my laundry and then finally got down to working on my college work, which was the whole point of having the day free. It took the whole of the rest of the day to get it done and send some of it off to my tutor, but by 11pm I was finished and could finally go to bed knowing that I'd done my best. I may need to make some alterations if I get some feedback, but I'm hoping I've done enough to pass and just submit everything. The test will be on Wednesday when I go into college for the final sign off. 

On Monday, I woke early and read for a little while in bed before getting up. We needed to head out quite early to go over to LB's flat and load up all her stuff into a van and bring it home. We set off about 9.20am and got there for about 11 am. I got straight down to the cleaning. It was pretty bad, as LB had been busy with her uni work and the cleaning had been put on the back burner for months.

OH gradually loaded all of her stuff into the van and we managed to get the living room and LB's bedroom cleaned fully. We vacuumed the rest of the flat and then had to take the vacuum home and leave LB to do the rest, so that we could get the van back in time and also miss any traffic that builds up around rush hour. We got home about 4ish and unloaded the van, putting most of LB's stuff in her bedroom for her to sort out when she came home. She was due to have an inspection and hand over the keys the following day, so she stayed at the flat for a last night to get the rest of the cleaning done and do the handover. Her flatmate had already moved out earlier in the week and gone back home.

On Tuesday morning I got up and ready to go to a class at the gym. I did a bit of cleaning before heading out, ready for LB coming home later in the day. The class was okay. I dropped into the charity shop on the way home, but there was nothing that appealed to me. It's rare for me to come away empty handed, but ti does happen sometimes. 

Later, I got ready and headed out to my sewing class. It was so hot. I was glad of the air conditioning in the classroom when I got there. I did some more work on my dress. I finished the bodice and finally figured out the sleeves and then attached the bodice to the skirt, so it's slowly coming together. I think the next job will be putting in the zip down the back and then putting some elastic in the sleeves, before I tackle the neckline. I'll have to see if I can do it at home on my own following the pattern. I just need an invisible zipper foot for my machine before I can insert it.

I finished my book from the library where I go to my class and returned the remaining books I had taken out, as I won't be going back there for a while. The library is being refurbished, so all the sewing classes are being transferred to another venue in September. I'm not sure if I'm going to return. I may do, if I can get a place.

When I got home, LB was in bed asleep. I imagine she's got a lot of sleep to catch up on after a super busy final term and then moving out of the flat. It's lovely to have her back home for however long it may be for. I was very tired tonight and retired to bed early, as I had to be up early for my last day at college the following day. I'm going to be so happy when it's all done and I finally get some free time for sewing and doing other things I enjoy.

I was up super early on Wednesday morning, getting ready for college and making sure that I took everything I needed to submit with me. The tutor spent and hour making sure we had completed all of the required pieces of work and then she went off to do an assessment on another student.  When she got back she signed off all of my work and I was free to go which felt good. I then went to the gym to do a last session. At this point, I'll explain that the course I was doing was to gain a Certificate in Gym Instructing. As part of the course, we got free membership to the gym that the college uses for it's sports students, so I got to work out for free once per week for the duration of the course.  It was useful to get to know the gym environment too, especially when it came to practical assessments, which we did in there.

Some of my fellow students came into the gym later to do an assessment, so I arranged to meet up with one of them when they'd finished and we had lunch and a chat, as I'd not seen her for weeks. We'd all been off preparing for and doing our assessments at different times. I then left and came home. It felt strange to have finally finished.

When I got back home, I spent the afternoon sewing, as I'd just had no time at all to do any (save for at my sewing class). I altered a skirt and top I'd bought from the charity shop a couple of weeks ago, so both are now wearable. A sun dress I was going to alter and make into a skirt, I gave to LB as she liked it and she's going to wear it as a skirt. 

I also did quite a bit of work on a patchwork skirt that I started back in May. It's coming together nicely. Whether I'll be brave enough to wear it is another matter. By the time I'd finished for the day it was supper time, so I packed up until I next have some spare time to sew. It was lovely to get back to my sewing projects though. I've really missed having time to work on them.

Monthly Finances - June 2025

Financially, it was quite a good month in June. I got paid less than I have for a while, as I'd not been given many hours in May. This changed drastically from the end of May, as I was scheduled for as many as 30 hours per week some weeks, due to staff holidays, which has frankly been exhausting, but the money I've earned will come in very useful. It didn't come at a great time, as I was busy with my college course, but as a consequence, I've not spent as much money as I have done in other months, in fact, my expenditure was the least it's been since last September, which is good.

One of the main reasons, it's been a good month is that I got a £500 or thereabouts tax rebate.  This was used to pay off some dental treatment on my credit card and I put some away into savings, i.e. the car fund and other accounts. It really saved me this month. I also won £100 on the Premium bonds again, which was fortunate and which got reinvested and I got some dividends from some shares I own to the tune of £150, which also got put into savings. So quite a fortuitous month for me really. I cannot grumble.

On the expenditure side of things, I overspent slightly on food, which is a regular occurence these days, probably due to prices rising constantly. This will go up more from July, when LB comes back home, but it's worth it to have her home. I overspent a little on household and miscellaneous expenditure. The latter was mainly due to buying a new cabin case for our summer holiday.

I spent nothing on our home and garden this month, but then overspent on myself to help get me through a very busy month. I bought a weighted vest for walking in, spent £80ish on mostly thrifted clothing and other bits and pieces. This took me way over my £25 thrifting budget, but I consider this a necessary slip for my mental and emotional health during an exhausting month. I also bought some fabric for a new project, I spent £37 on gifts and made some charitable donations. I was pretty happy with how it panned out.

Moving into July, we are planning a holiday this month, so I will need some spending money for that. Luckily, all the overtime I've worked will nicely cover this. I don't have any birthdays or anything to buy gifts for, so other than the holiday, it's a regular month. However, LB will be back home and I may treat her to some things.  She probably needs an outfit for her graduation this month and she may need a few bits for the holiday, so we'll see where that takes me. 

I am looking forward to July, once I've finished my college course. It will signify freedom for me from trying to juggle too much at once. Self inflicted, of course. I'm itching to do more sewing, that I just haven't had time for recently, and as soon as I have the time I will be getting the sewing machine out, which should keep me out of the shops, but I can't promise this.

I hope you've had a financially stress free and enjoyable month.

Still Trying to Get Everything Completed - W/E 26th June 2025

This week started with another 12 noon til 6pm shift at work on Sunday. It was a busy shift and I was late getting home and felt a bit stressed. OH was still out when I got home, as he'd been cycling, so I decided to do the washing up, as there was a massive pile from the previous few days. When he got back, he made supper and I chilled for the evening, writing my grocery shopping list for the next day and catching up on a bit of YouTube/blogging, before heading to bed quite early.

On Monday, I was looking forward to being able to head off to do the weekly shop out of town, with no shift at work to get back for. As a consequence, I could take my time and enjoy the day, for the first time in a few weeks. There were quite a lot of things that I needed to buy, as we'd eaten down most of the food in the fridge and freezer, so it was quite an expensive shop this week, but it was the last grocery shop of the month. I just had to make sure that I kept spending to below the amount that I had left in my bank account, which I did.

I visited my favourite charity shop whilst out, and yes, I did buy more items of clothing and go even more over on my thrifting budget, but I justified it to myself as a treat, after having had such a busy and stressful few weeks. Not ideal, but I don't care. I like the things I bought, some of which I will be altering to make them more wearable and some that I'll wear just as they are. Once again, I looked solely for natural fibres of which I managed to find a few nice things. I'll post about them in my monthly clothing purchases post at the end of the month and some of them will no doubt feature in future clothing alteration posts.

When I got home, I unpacked the shopping and chilled for a few hours before making supper. I even went to bed for an hour for a nap.  When I got up I started doing some college work whilst making supper. I did some research and made some notes about another piece of work I have to do and then input quite a bit of work I'd already done onto the computer ready for submission. There's still quite a bit more I need to do this week before final submission on Monday next week. I'm just hoping I can get it all done, along with the final practical assessment that I have on Wednesday this week. I may need to arrange a tutorial with my tutor to get some feedback on some of the work before finally submitting it.

LB informed us today that she didn't get a post graduate internship that she'd been interviewed for last week. We were a bit disappointed for her, but if it's not meant for her so be it. I'm sure something else will come her way and she seemed philosophical about it, which is good. It would have provided her with valuable experience, but it obviously wasn't meant to be. She did well to get an interview though, so we're proud of her whatever.

Tuesday morning, I got up early and booked into an early session at the gym. I didn't go to my usual class again, as it is a bit later in the morning. This way, I had time to do more college work before going to my sewing class.

I almost didn't go to my sewing class, but decided it would be nice to do something enjoyable and sociable. There were only two classes left to attend. I had been having problems attaching the sleeves to my dress. Whichever way I tried, I kept ending up with extra fabric. It took me to cut out new sleeve pieces to realise where I'd gone wrong. I'd sewn the wrong sleeve pieces together, which was silly of me. Anyway, I managed to get one sleeve sewn on and the other will have to wait until next week now. I won't be finishing this dress this term. It may have to be a project for next summer, unless I can manage to finish it at home somehow. Everything has just got away from me in recent weeks.

I've felt under a lot of pressure this week, to get all of my college work done, so some things have had to take a back seat until next week, when it's all finished and submitted. An added pressure is that we are moving LB out of her flat and back home next Monday, which is college hand in day, so I needed to get everything for college done before then and I was also scheduled to work quite a lot of hours towards the end of the week too. This meant that I had to make the most of my time at the beginning of the week.

On Wednesday morning I had my final practical assessment at college. I was pretty nervous going in. We do the assessments in pairs and this time my fellow student went first, which helped me get into the right mindset and calm my anxiety. I was still a bit nervous when it came to my turn, but it went okay and we both passed the assessment, which was great. I now just need to complete the written coursework and then attend college next Wednesday for the final sign off, to make sure we've done everything we need to. It feels like a big weight off my shoulders, to know that I've passed the practicals. I now just need to make good use of what time I have left to do the coursework. I'm glad I stayed the course, instead of opting out of the practical assessments, it's definitely been worth the effort and I've learned a lot in the process.

When I got home, I just chilled for a couple of hours after lunch. It's all been a bit manic these past few weeks. I just needed to decompress and reset. We got some good news from LB today, in that she'd got her degree grading and she'd done really well, achieving a 2:1 for her work. We were both super pleased for her, as she's worked very hard these last two years.

I was due back at work on Thursday afternoon, so I spent the morning doing very little. I did do a bit of college work and am slowly getting on with the coursework, bit by bit. I started work at 3pm, but went early as I needed to collect a suitcase I'd ordered from our local ASDA store. I was happy with it when I got it. Work was busy. I guess it's another Payday weekend, so lots of people were out spending money. 

Friday morning, I got up and had breakfast and then spent the morning working on my college work. I'm over it already, but still have work to do. Later, after lunch, I got ready and went to work. It was crazy busy, but passed quickly. The store was very messy at the end of the shift and I didn't leave until after 10. I've got a few days off next week. I arranged with my manager not to be given any extra shifts until later in the week, as I need the time to do my college work and move LB back home.

When I got home, we watched main stage live at Glasto, The 1975, not OH's bag, but I enjoyed it and then we watched some of the other highlights. We love it, but always end up staying up way too late.

On Saturday, I got up early to go to the free session at the gym. I was tired, but I needed to get another workout in this week. I'm doing more weights and a lot less cardio at the moment and finding my weight is much more stable and I'm not overeating so much.  I think eating a bit more protein helps, when I make the effort. I also think that the stress that cardio puts on my body, especially the running, may have been causing more cortisol in my body, causing me to eat more and hang onto weight more as a consequence. I'm going to continue in the same vein and see what happens. I'm in a learning curve at the moment with macros and weight training. It's interesting.

OH came with me to the gym and when we got back we went to the allotment to harvest some of the gooseberries and blackcurrants. Needless to say I got scratched to bits. I took the day off all college work and did other things instead. I needed the mental break and knowing that I had the whole of Sunday to finish my work helped a lot. After lunch, I needed to get to work again. It wasn't quite as busy today, but was still very tiring. Almost every week, I find out that someone else is leaving, today I found out one person had already left and another was leaving the following day. I was glad to get home, knowing I had a few days before I needed to go back.  It felt so good to fall into bed at the end of another busy week.

A Small Charity Shop Haul

I paid a visit to one of my favourite local charity shops this last week after not visiting for probably a couple of months. The shop itself is an RSPCA shop, so I'm always happy to give my money to a charity for animals that have been cruelly treated.

I found a few small things on this visit, the first being this book about craft for £2.50:

This is the second book on the subject of crafts that I've bought this month, but I love to read about makers and making things. It helps to inspire me to be creative and get sewing, although I don't have much spare time to do any at the moment. I'm so looking forward to getting all my college work completed and submitted, so that I can indulge in my favourite past time once again.

On the subject of crafts, I also bought these three balls of cotton yarn for £1 each. I haven't a specific project in mind at the moment, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

The next item I bought was this pack of three pretty card envelope folders for £3.

These will make a pretty storage solution for paperwork, so I look forward to using them.

Finally, I succumbed to buying these two lovely tin vintage brooches from Japan. I have many bird brooches, so the kingfisher appealled to add to this collection, but the moth was also lovely so I bought that too. They cost £2 each. 

In total, I spent £12.50 this visit, which I think was good for the items I bought. I think after being so busy this month on college work and working, I just needed a bit of an outlet for the stress, and charity shopping seemed to hit the spot this month. There are worse things I could do, as the song goes.

Ditto, But Some Positives Too - W/E 20th June 2025

Another week, another shift on Sunday. I was working 12 till 6 this week, which was a bit longer than normal. OH was away on a cycling holiday with some friends. He departed on Friday morning, and I'd been home alone since then. I didn't mind it though and I was working most of the time, doing college work or at college, so I was very busy.

When I got home on Sunday night, I finally had a few hours to do some college work. I spent about 3 hours doing some prep for my practical assessments, which was tiring after work, but I couldn't waste the opportunity.

On Monday morning, I woke up feeling a bit groggy. I'd slept well, but had gone to bed way too late. I couldn't lie in, as I had to do some food shopping. I went locally this week and just bagged the absolute essentials to get me through to Wednesday, when I could do a top up shop in time for OH coming home in the evening.

I then just had enough time to get lunch, pack up a something for supper on my break, and head into work to do a 1pm till 10pm shift. This was the last shift for a couple of days, and it went okay, more so because a certain member of staff wasn't working and I had a good chat to a colleague, which was very illuminating.

When I got home, I was shattered. I did some financial stuff, as I had some bills to pay, did a bit of blogging and then went to bed. I probably should have done some more college work, but just didn't have the band width after a long intense shift.

Tuesday, was my usual day to go to a gym class, but I decided not to go to the class this week and instead, booked myself into the gym, as this meant that I could go in early, get my session done and get home. I also decided to skip my sewing class, as I had my first practical assessment on Wednesday and needed the day to prepare.  I had to message my tutor a few times with some last minute questions, but I think I'm as prepared as I can be in the circumstances. I just hope it goes okay.

I had a shower in the evening so I could get up early and not need much time to get ready. I aimed to get to college early and do a bit more prep before the assessment. 

I was super tired when I woke at 6 ish the next morning. I had to drag myself out of bed. I didn't quite get to college as early as I'd hoped, but managed a little bit of  revision/prep before our tutor arrived. To be honest, I don't know if much went in, as I was so nervous. 

My actual assessment was a formative one, before a final assessment next week. As such, it was like a practice run, but still had to be done correctly. You could repeat parts of it, if the tutor felt it necessary, which I did need to do, as on a couple of occasions my mind went totally blank, but I got through it okay and so did the person I was partnered up with. I got some really good feedback from my tutor too, which gave me a bit more confidence going forward.

I felt so relieved once it was done. I was glad I'd persevered with it and it felt worth the effort. I needed to stop off on the way home and do a top up shop at Aldi and Home Bargains nearby. It felt like a luxury to be able to do such things, as I haven't had the time to do any but essential food shopping lately, and then always with a time limit hanging over me.

When I got home, I had some time to just chill, for what felt like the first time in ages. I ended up going back to bed for a few hours, as the last week has been really intense and I just needed to catch up on some sleep and reset. Besides it was really hot and the heat made me feel sleepy too.

By the time I woke up, OH was almost back in the country. I had arranged to pick him up from a local train station. I just had time to drop into the allotment, as I'd not managed to go whilst he was away and everything desperately needed watering. It thought it would look worse than it did, which was lucky. We did have a downpour on Friday night, so I think that helped. There's lots of stuff growing well and some berries to harvest, which I didn't have time to do on this occasion.

I came home, watered the garden and then had half an hour to chill, blog, watch YouTube, etc., before going to pick up OH. It was good to hear all about his trip. He'd had a really good time, despite the cycling being hard going.

On Thursday, I woke early. I've been sleeping well lately, but waking quite early. I got up and had some breakfast. OH and I headed out to the allotment after breakfast to harvest, feed, weed and water the plot. It was looking good. 

After lunch I got a call from work, asking if I'd go in a couple of hours early. I ended up going in for 3.30pm instead of 5pm, but we left by 9.30pm, which was good. It was pretty busy.

Friday morning, I booked into the gym for 10am. I walked there and had a pretty good workout. I've changed my routine around quite a bit, which I'll explain in another post at some point. It's working out well for me and I look forward to my gym sessions rather than them feeling like a chore.

On the way home from the gym, I dropped into a local charity shop that I haven't visited for a couple of months. I bought a few small things and did go over my £25 monthly thrifting budget, but I haven't spent much money this month as I've been so busy, so I don't feel too bad about it. I'll post separately about what I bought.

I was due at work for 4pm, so after having some lunch and chilling for a while, I got showered and ready for work. Work was busy, but OK. I was glad to get home though, knowing that I had Saturday off to go to see LB's degree Show at her Uni.

On Saturday, we drove over to Wimbledon in South West London, to see LB's work in her degree show. We got there at about 1.30pm and met her at a nearby pub for lunch and a catch up, which was nice. We then walked down the road to her University campus where we wandered through the degree shows of the various courses on the campus. There were film, costume design, technical arts and theatre design course work on display, so it was really interesting to see the students' work. Some of it was amazing. They were so talented. I have to say that being a sewist, I particularly enjoyed the costume design work, which was done to an amazing standard.

It was lovely to see LB's work too, of course. She's worked really hard for the last couple of years and we're very pround of her for completing her course and doing so well. We hung around until 5pm, when the show finished and the students could take their work home with them. We ended up bringing LB's model home with us, so that she didn't have to carry it home herself. We then took her back to her flat and chatted for a while with her and her flatmate. They will be both moving out at the end of this month. It felt like the end of an era. They've both enjoyed living in the flat though, so it's been mostly a good experience for them.

We then headed home and brought some of LB's stuff back with us. We will be returning in a week to collect the rest of it in a van.  Both OH and I were really tired when we got home and were both in bed quite early, which marked the end to another busy week.