A very successful weekend

 Well, my sister has been and gone in a bit of a whirlwind. It was a fantastic weekend but it ended far too quickly. She arrived on Friday morning wearing sandals, as she had just flown in from a business trip in Mumbai. Her big winter coat was only just managing to keep her warm - she has not felt these chilly temperatures for quite some time. We went straight over to our Mum's house for cups of tea and a catch up before we decided to make the most of the rest of the day and go view one of the potential wedding venues. We didn't bother viewing any more as she completely fell in love with this place (as I did when I viewed it with my future brother in law a few weeks ago). The photo above was taken whilst the venue was being used for filming - some kind of 1950s drama.

 This is the fireplace in the main hall. The building is full to the brim with oak panelling - so much character therefore not much decorating is required. It looks like it will be a winter wedding so I think a Christmas tree will be nestling in next to this fireplace. I'm really pleased that they have now found the venue - lots more to organise though, which may prove to be fairly tricky when you live on the other side of the world. On Saturday, I packed my youngest daughter off for a day with my Dad, who is just recovering from a knee replacement operation. He really enjoyed her company and they spent most of the day snuggling on the sofa whilst reading books/watching DVDs whilst my eldest daughter, my sister and Mum and I went shopping. My husband spent the day in bed, still trying to recover from his flu last weekend. We had a good look round the shops, in between stopping for coffee and lunch, and discovered a few new charity shops that have recently opened up. Here's what I found.

 It's a skirt suit, still with tags attached, that looks like it was made in the late 70's or early 80's. It is a beautiful wool mix fabric with a bit of stretch to it so very comfortable. I will wear the jacket with jeans rather than with the matching skirt.

 The skirt is a good 2 inches below the knee, which is unusual for me to find as I am tall and struggle to find skirts that are the right length. A fine knit jumper and knee high boots will go perfectly with this.

I also bought this ring from House of Fraser in the sale. Beautiful.

Saturday night was spent watching X Factor, which is becoming more and more disappointing as the weeks go by. We returned to my Mum and Dad's house on Sunday for a roast beef and yorkshire pudding lunch, finished off by a homemade trifle. Heaven. My sister left for the airport late in the afternoon, but we will see her again at Christmas, so not too long to wait.

We have half term this week and my husband has the week off work too. We have been fitting the new blinds today, although we are not completely finished as we discovered we had picked up a couple of wrong pieces - trip to Ikea tomorrow to rectify the mistake. We also went to the local pumpkin barn this afternoon to choose one each for the kids and one to make some soup/pumpkin pie. I get the feeling we will be doing a fair amount of baking this week, along with DIY and mooching around the house. I think an afternoon nap may be in order! Hope you have a good week too. x