Been Away, Back Now

Well, we've been back from Bruges for a couple of days and I must apologise for not blogging much this week.  We headed off earlier than I expected on Wednesday, returning on Thursday evening, just a short trip this time, but an enjoyable one.  I'll post more about it soon, once I've sorted out the photos.

Back home and I've been trying to catch up.  The dog was non too pleased to see us on our return.  I think she wanted to stay with her doggy friends for a little longer.  She's still sulking a little.  I guess we should be grateful that she's happy to stay elsewhere when we go away!  I took her out the morning after our return for a lovely walk on the marshes.  She perked up a little as a consequence.

Prior to this, I had to collect a parcel of some clothes I'd ordered from La Redoute online.  Yes, Stoptober came to an abrupt end for me when I got a hard to resist email offering 30% discount on a new winter coat and a few other items I'd spotted a while back.  All part of my regenerated wardrobe project.  Anyway, the parcel arrived whilst we were away and I had to collect it from a local store that participates in Click and Collect to cut out the postage costs.  Unfortunately, the shop I collect from is in a tricky area for parking and I narrowly missed a parking ticket, which would have made it a very expensive collection.  As it was, it cost £1.20 in parking fees, but this is still a lot less than the £4 postage.  In many ways, it would have served me right for not sticking to Stoptober more rigidly or walking to collect it instead.  Anyway, the coat, plus other items had to go on the credit card for now, but will be paid off next month.

Once home, I tried on the items in the parcel, some of which I am kindly allowing OH to give me for Christmas in order to claw back some of the expense.  The coat in question was a great fit and I love the style of it.  Black, wool mix, zip front and no collar.  I'm hoping it will become a winter staple for a few years to come.  Here's a picture of it on the dressmaker's dummy.

I also ordered a black jersey pencil skirt which also fitted well.  It has a leather look strip down each side for a slightly more modern look.  I'm pretty happy with it and again am hoping to wear it often over the next couple of years.

 

 

The other items ordered were a top for Little Bird for Christmas, a pair of charcoal Converse trainers for me for Christmas and a new sports bra which I've needed for a while.  The initial two items and the Converse are going to form part of my new capsule wardrobe.  I'm afraid that once I get 'a bee in my bonnet' I'm off and there's no stopping me.  I might just have to wait until after Christmas until I buy anything else though, as there's definitely nothing left in the budget between now and then.

Anyway, the remainder of the day was spent catching up on posting out items sold whilst we were away and helping Little Bird to make her Halloween costume.  She was a black cat.  The tail she made herself from the leg of some old tights and I helped stitch a white chest on her t-shirt and some pink pads on her black gloves.  She looked pretty cute. 

Talking of Halloween, here's a picture of her vomiting pumpkin!