Customised a quick bedside table yesterday… One more to do still!

Time for bed

A tidy en-suite!

I also quickly painted up a dilapidated green unit in Farrow & Ball’s “French Gray”

Ok so the week hasn’t been entirely bad.  I went to see Cath Kidston early Friday evening at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.  She was absolutely brilliant! I really genuinely enjoyed sitting and listening to an hour of how she built up her business, wrote her books, what inspires her etc.  It felt like a little haven of calm amidst a very strange week.

I have not had an entirely good week and have felt like our little business has received a bit of a kicking.  On Tuesday, we got badly hacked.  It was really quite unpleasant and caused a lot of concern over various issues to do with platforms for building sites etc.  This took an evening to resolve.  On Wednesday night, our studio got burgled.  They took my iMac, Mark’s personal laptop and my digital SLR camera.  Not only that, but they turned the entire place upside-down, going through kitchen cupboards, every drawer, filing cabinet (bank details etc), pulled stuff out from under my day bed (where I lie when I feel poorly) etc.  It was a horrid shock.

To top it off, the insurers are being REALLY awkward.  Excellent.  You see, to these thieves, they can feed a drug habit (or whatever) and get a few hundred quid down the pub for our stuff.  To me, they have taken the primary components of my entire business.  In fact they have taken approximately £5000 worth of kit (our only ‘kit’ really) and brought us to a complete standstill.

Pete McCrea, who is a hero, has very kindly got us back up and running on a temporary computer.  The lovely English has offered that I can borrow his camera.  I am so grateful at times like these for genuine and wonderful friends.  It really goes to show how precious friends are and how you should never take them for granted.

On Friday we discovered two more hacked sites.  Nice.  By the end of Friday night I wanted to kick this week into oblivion and hide in a very little hole.  Still, we can either sit and take the beatings or we can stand up and fight.  I have never been much of a sitter.

I actually have a (well, almost) phobia about jeans.  If I wash them they shrink, but also, buying new ones terrifies me.  This is because in England, people are generally ‘apple’ shaped, i.e. slim legs, slim hips, weight on the belly.  I, however, am an hourglass or pear shape.  I have significant thighs and a bum and hips…  Apparently this is not in fashion.  Therefore I cannot wear skinny jeans, hipsters, or….Well…. Most pairs of jeans.  I go into a changing room and I know from the minute that I undo the inch long zip that I will not be able to get one leg in, let alone anything else.

Many a time a have tried to squish my contours into ridiculous denim shapes and have fought with zips and buttons in the struggle to convince myself that I do indeed fit into the size I think I am.  The problem with these shapes is, that even if I put on a size 22, I would not be able to get them on.

So… For ages now, I have been sticking to dresses and tops with leggings as I had become so depressed about it all.  Today I was in Sainsburys, where I have deliberated over jeans many times.  Today I plucked up enough courage to try some on.  Imagine my delight and joy, when I tried on three pairs of size 10 jeans and they all went on seamlessly!  Plus, all my curves sit in the right places, rather than looking like an over-stuffed sausage tied in three places. I LOVE SAINSBURYS!  They sell Classic Fit!  Hooray!!!!! At last! So I am proudly sporting JEANS tonight, with a nice long sleeve top and a long cardigan. I feel so comfortable.  Big smiles all round.

Well….  Since this time last week the days have been as follows:

Thursday night: Lovely meal with Lindsay and Chilli (and Ronnie the house rabbit!) I love these people.

Friday night: Marksteen kindly got us tickets to the film festival to see The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. This is a fantastic film (although not for the faint-hearted). The subtitles were a little annoying as sometimes they would just cut out, but when the film is released I recommend it.

Saturday night: Dinner with the Flooks – a brilliant (and quite late) night

Sunday: Spent most of the day assembling the new Pink Sky website

Monday: Hmmm.  This was an interesting day. I woke up with a swollen ear and it turns out I must have bashed it in the night and embedded my newly pierced stud into my earlobe!! OW! I ended up in A&E having it removed.  I then had a nice meal out with my parents at the Clock Tower.

Tuesday: Mark was off work very poorly so it was a busy day for me.

Wednesday: I have a bit of an upset stomach this morning but don’t really feel unwell. I am hoping it is the anti-biotics for my ear that have had a bad side-effect rather than the dreaded bug that is going around.

I am hugely excited.  I can never afford new lenses for my camera but I love taking photos so much.  The other day I had a revelation.  My good friend English came in to the studios to take photos with me.  He brought a lens called (affectionately) ‘Stumpy’!  This is possibly the cheapest lens you can buy, a mere snip at £82: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00005K47X/ref=oss_product Here it is.

It takes awesome photos!